CHAPTER II.

Samuel Daniel, Spenser’s successor as laureate, is unknown to the general reader, though by the reader of his time he was well considered, and literary critics of every age have admired him. He has had no superior in the correct, classic use of English. Lowell says that in two hundred years not a dozen of his words or turns of phrase have become obsolete, a thing that can not be said, probably, of any other English writer. He failed not in rhythmic skill, or linguistic art, but in that element which marks the literary genius’ power to speak to his neighbors in such a way as to speak to all times and climes. Shakspere’s words are as much at home in one nation or century as another. Bunyan had a similar skill, so had Burns, but Daniel had it not. In comparing him with men of permanent literary fame we see the superiority of processes to facts, of methods to transient results.

Daniel’s lines are so exquisite that in every age the great poets have not only been his admirers, but have made systematic effort to revivify his lines. In the time of Hazlitt, he secured the coöperation of Lamb and Coleridge, and the three combined their talent and friends to resurrect his fame by placing beneath his poems their own genius and reputation, but they could not call his verses from the oblivion in which they had been decently interred.

This incident is a capital answer to the charge that great men, notably literary men, depend upon circumstances for their fame. Nothing can buoy up fame but the filling of the veins with a personality through genius. At some stages circumstances aid, friends are serviceable, but it is the inherent qualities that survive in the tempestuous waves of public opinion and criticism. Daniel won the title of voluntary laureate by serving from Spenser to Ben Jonson without stated financial reward, though he was benefited financially and otherwise. Samuel Daniel was born 1562, near Taunton. His father was a music teacher, and the son studied at Oxford, but did not take his degree. He published poems at twenty-three. He was tutor to Lady Anne Clifford, afterward Countess of Pembroke, and became historian and poet under Earl of Pembroke’s patronage. His admiration for the Italian verse influenced his original stanzas, and led him to devote much time to translations. His most extensive work was the poetic history of the civil wars between the houses of Lancaster and York.

Ben Jonson, who succeeded Daniel, is a curiosity in literature. Physically, mentally, morally, he was unquestionably the most unique character among English “Men of Letters.” In build heavy and uncouth, face broad and long, with square jaw and large cheeks, disfigured by scurvy, with a “mountain bellie and ungracious gait.” He was the son of a clergyman who died before he was born. His mother married shortly after for her second husband a bricklayer, whom the child royally disliked. The coarsely framed, energetic lad was, in the eyes of the step-father, only fitted for manual labor, and consequently he was taken from school as soon as he could handle a trowel, and placed at brick laying. In this action two elements in the boy’s nature were overlooked; combativeness and pride; and it was not long after this summary parental authority assigned him menial employment that the impetuous lad unceremoniously withdrew from home associations to parts unknown. The army was his retreat, and he was not long in making a record for personal bravery by meeting a man in single combat, at the age of seventeen, in the presence of both armies, Spanish and English, killing his opponent single handed.

At the age of eighteen he retired from the army, and for a brief period resumed his studies, from which he early retreated and sought a livelihood with his pen at drama writing, and to assure their success and increase his income he attempted to act them in the theater, but pride and combativeness led to a violent quarrel with an associate actor, and in the duel which followed he killed his opponent with the sword. Arrest and imprisonment followed, and execution was inevitable but for the gracious interference of a priest, whose interposition secured his release before the sentence was passed upon him.

When at twenty years of age he came out of prison his hands were stained with the blood of two fellow-beings; his first act was to secure himself a wife, though he had not a penny in the world, and no visible means of support. This apparently rash act was the wisest movement of his life, as it necessitated a vigorous wrestling with poverty for four stern years, which balanced his temper and disposition and intensified his mental powers. During these years of galling poverty be produced under its stimulus the greatest work of his life, “Every man in his Humor.” His works all show learning of the highest order. Hume said that he had the learning Shakspere lacked, but lacked his genius. But when and how did he acquire it? Largely by unparalleled reading in these four years when his poverty goaded him to acquire the skill to earn money with his pen.

He was a scathing critic, lashing play writers, actors and theater-goers with unmerciful sarcasm in the prefaces of his plays, until he became the best hated man in England, actors frequently denouncing him in unmeasured censure before their audiences, which only goaded him to the public declaration that he had no fear of “strumpet’s drugs or ruffian’s stab.”

When James VI. of Scotland ascended the throne as James I. of England, there appeared a comedy styled, “Eastward Hoe,” written by Jonson’s most intimate friends, Marston and Chapman. The work reflected sarcastically upon certain Scotch traits, exasperating the newly crowned king so greatly that he caused the joint authors to be thrown into prison, and it was currently reported that they were to lose their noses and ears.

When Jonson, who was in high favor with the court and people, heard this report he was exasperated, as he had written certain passages of the book for them, and he promptly surrendered himself as a fellow-author, and took his place defiantly in prison, which placed the king in a most uncomfortable position, as he had neither the desire nor the courage to mutilate the face of the most popular writer of the day. The three were in consequence released, and Jonson gave a great feast in honor of the event, at which his mother displayed a phial of violent poison, saying that had he been mutilated she would first have drank from the deadly phial and then have given him to drink. He was universally recognized as one of the most jovial characters of the day, and spent much of his time with literary companions at the “Mermaid Club,” a socio-literary association of brilliant men, among whom were Shakspere, Beaumont, and Fletcher.

When he was appointed laureate he was granted at first a hundred marks, or about sixty-five pounds, which was soon advanced to a hundred pounds, which with his literary income would have sufficed had he the gift of using money wisely, which he had not, and as life advanced he was continually annoyed from want of funds. Then it was that his sarcastic habits of speech bore fruit. When young and vigorous he rejoiced in his enemies, but as he aged his skill to make enemies increased, while his youthful powers to ward off their thrusts was waning. The time came, as it must always come to men in years, when he had nothing new to say, no vitality for originating thought, or freshly stating truth, and unfortunately he was forced to attempt to write for a living, and writing poorly, his enemies attacked him savagely, setting his words before the public in absurd relations, saddening the closing years of life. Misfortunes never come singly, and his mental chagrin was augmented by the humiliation of being a paralytic to such an extent that he could not walk, and dropsy and scurvy intensified his suffering. His wife and children had died and his only servant and companion was an uncomfortable old woman. The king withdrew his royal patronage, and he lived at last only by soliciting favors from his friends. In Westminster Abbey, where his remains lie among the famous poets, is a plain, square block of stone, marking the resting place of this erratic youth, brilliant man, suffering and neglected senior, with this inscription:

“O RARE BEN JONSON.”

No poet laureate adorned the royal household for a quarter of a century. Some time before the death of Jonson, Charles I. had fallen on troublesome times. The poetry of life in court circles was gone, and even the prose was shorn of its beauty.

It is a strange chapter that recounts the way in which the Romish church, as well as the English, lost all power in the nation; the way in which the Presbyterian church, so long an outlaw, came into power with all the vigor of youth, and almost instantly went out of power in a panic; the way the ever-to-be-feared Independent, who never knows law or reason, came to haunt the dreams of the nobility.

The king was weak, timid, vacillating; the nobility came to be of no account to anybody; the House of Commons that prided itself on being radical, suddenly found itself so conservative as to be frightened even from its parliamentary place of rendezvous, and became an insignificant factor in the government. What a day was that in which neither the Romish, English, or Presbyterian church was of sufficient account to be consulted, when the king was a cipher, the nobility a minus quantity, the House of Commons an unknown factor, and two men, Hampden and Cromwell, rallied fifty Independents, constituted themselves a law unto themselves, organizing what has been known in history as the Rump Parliament, and beheaded Charles I.

In Jonson’s day the king saw the drift of affairs, felt the throne trembling beneath him, and had neither the funds to continue Jonson’s pension, nor was he in the sentimental mood to appoint a successor upon his death. It would have been cruel mockery indeed for any poet to rhyme his praise.

The ten years in which Cromwell rode rough shod over every established order of things did not develop a spirit that called for poetry. Life was too hazardous to incline any to sing in joyous strain. But when he died and no Independent rose to fill his place, Charles II. was called to the throne, and the House Of Stuart once more held the reins of government securely, and the citizens called for a knightly laureate.

Sir William Davenant assumed the position of versifier for the king. He was the son of a wealthy vinter who kept the Crown Inn at Oxford, where Shakspere always stopped, who, by the way, was such an ardent admirer of Mrs. D’Avenaunt that her son bore his name, and it was the quiet boast of Sir William that he was the natural son of the great dramatist.

He was early attached to the household of the gorgeous Duchess of Richmond as a page, and later attached himself to the retinue of Lord Brooke, until that nobleman was murdered, which affliction threw Davenant upon his own resources, which induced him to try his hand at versifying, but without success until one of those periodic freaks of Ben Jonson led the great poet to quarrel with the court architect, who in the emergency discovered Davenant and gave him the opportunity to secure the position on limited literary capital.

There was that in his nature which made him an active partisan, and during the Long Parliament he was imprisoned for scheming to seduce the army and overthrow the Commons. He escaped, was captured and reimprisoned, escaped the second time and fled to France, where he joined the exile queen and served the cause of royalty by smuggling military stores into England, and for personal bravery in the army of the Earl of Newcastle, who espoused the queen’s cause, he was knighted. After the fatal battle of Naseby he returned to France and assumed the management of the colonization society and sailed for Virginia, but his vessel was captured by a parliamentary man-of-war and he imprisoned on the Isle of Wight, and afterward sent to the Tower on the charge of high treason. The timely interference of his old poet friend, Milton, who had espoused the Puritan cause, alone prevented his being beheaded. This successful importunity of an old friend was in many ways most gratifying to Davenant, who, a few years later, when Charles II. was called to assume the reins of government and executed vengeance on all old time enemies, dooming Milton to sudden execution, was privileged to reciprocate the favor, and by timely intercession, recounting the service the poet had been to him, saved Milton from the fatal consequences of his political affiliations.

After Milton secured Davenant’s release from imprisonment the humbled courtier endeavored to win an honorable living as a poet, but in vain. He could only write dramas, but the Puritans had closed the theaters with a rigor that knew no exception. It was in this emergency that the knight whose experiences had been so varied did the one bright thing of his life: he succeeded in writing inoffensive plays, and having them acted by calling them _operas_, thus pacifying the ruling public, at the same time giving the world a new name for a diluted drama.

Charles II. when in power rewarded the faithfulness and loyalty of Davenant by crowning him laureate. It has been truthfully but cruelly said that there is not a more hopelessly faded laurel on the slopes of the English Parnassus than that which once flourished around Davenant’s grotesque head. Of the brighter man who followed him another chapter must account.

[TO BE CONTINUED.]

THE SPELL OF THE HALCYON.

BY MARY N. EVANS.

In the midst of drear December, With a strange and magic art, Comes a gentle, mystic presence, Melting stern old Winter’s heart; Then the sullen sky, whose frowning Chilled our hearts for weeks before, Sudden smiles—and lo, above us, Heaven’s bending blue once more!

Then the sunshine softly falleth, Flooding earth with golden rays, And the bleak fields stand transfigured Through the brief, bright, “halcyon days;” While the storm-scourged, wrathful billows, Surging home with angry roar, Stretch, a shining sea of silver, Toward an unseen, sunny shore.

Do you ask me whence the magic, Thus transforming Nature’s face? Listen to the quaint old legend Grecia wove with matchless grace;— How true-hearted Alcyone Plunged despairing, ’neath the wave, Her loved husband, Ceyx, joining, In his lonely ocean grave.

Father Neptune, late relenting, When he saw their deathless love, Changed them both to tiny birdies, Skimming light, his waves above; Then he bade them on his bosom Build in peace their glad home-nest, Hushing every wild storm-spirit, For that season into rest.

Naught can harm the tiny nestlings— Naught disturb the parents small, For the spell of love undying Softly broodeth over all! Thus the heart of old December, Throbbing fierce with rage malign, Groweth warm, and sweet, and tender, ’Neath a sense of love divine.

So the home-love of the birdies Reacheth far beyond their ken, Crowning all the earth with blessing— Bringing peace to weary men; Even so from happy hearth-fires, From each heart where love is king, Goeth forth an influence holy, Earth’s millennial dawn to bring!

Then all hail to Love immortal, Hail! thou blessed heaven-born Dove! Brood o’er all life’s troubled waters, Till the earth is filled with love; Comfort every grief-bowed mourner— Bid all wars and tumults cease, Till the world with glad hosannas, Usher in the Prince of Peace!

CHRISTMAS DANGERS AND CHRISTMAS HINTS.

BY HELEN CAMPBELL.

Not that involved in the old saying, “A green Yule makes a fat churchyard,” nor even a hint at what Christmas cramming for both children and their elders may include. The physical results of either case are but a small portion of the evil that year by year has grown, so silently, so unsuspected, that to name evil in connection with the day seems both a misnomer and an outrage.

Is it climate or temperament, or simple inherited tendency that makes a golden mean impossible to the average American? A combination probably, combinations being the one thing to be taken for granted in any analysis of causes in man or nature. Life for Americans began in a reaction. Form and ceremony had hampered thought and hindered growth, and the earnest Puritan swept both aside once for all. A comfortable certainty was his that the question had but one side. His doxy was the only orthodoxy, and his doxy rejected Christmas as popish and owning the mark of the scarlet woman. We all know the joylessness, the somberness of those early days, in which human struggle was the only aim; never human delight or human pleasure in anything God had made. And we know as well, beyond any need of outline here, the sharp reaction from such numbing relief, and the conviction coming more and more surely to the surface, that enjoyment is as much our destiny as struggle, and that strength for the one comes in full acceptance of all legitimate forms of the other. But when enjoyment becomes a struggle, and we find distracted men and exhausted women crying as the holidays end, “Thank fortune Christmas is over with!” it seems high time to inquire why the friend whose entrance was hailed with acclamation suddenly appears in the character of the old man of the sea.

Is it that this is true, or that we have made him such by our own election, refusing him his rightful place, and forcing him ourselves to the shoulders that need have borne no such burden? We stagger under the responsibilities of this time that should mean only the purest pleasure. We grow feverish and anxious in paying a debt when free will offering alone has any part in the real Christmas. Children count their presents and are sad or sulky if tree or stocking hold one less than those of the child across the way. Boys and girls value the gift for the money it cost, and have learned such valuation from fathers and mothers who have discussed their own gifts from this standpoint. The spirit of bargaining possesses all; to get the most for the least outlay; to make the sum expended bring the utmost possible show. The counters are piled with flaunting bric-a-brac—cheap imitation of articles beyond the purse of the average buyer, and the woman whose supply of dish-towels is renewed from old sheets and who has not dared to buy book or photograph for a year, gives and receives some senseless plaque or staring vase, and might even resent a dozen dish-towels as quite out of harmony with the spirit of Christmas. The children share the same feeling, and if they make anything with their own hands, seek something so flimsy and useless, that as quickly as may be it is quietly tucked out of sight. And even where common sense has larger play, the amount of what must be done has gained such proportions that feverish hurry fills the days of preparation, and utter exhaustion the days that follow.

“I don’t think much of Christmas,” a small and cynical boy remarked not long ago. “It’s just a regular grab game, that’s what it is. I know fellows that join three or four Sunday-schools just for what they’ll get on the tree; and I know one fellow that hired other fellows, because you see, he couldn’t be everywhere at once, and when his name was called off they just went up and got his things for him. What do you think of that?”

“I think it’s pretty bad, but that isn’t the sort of Christmas you have at home, Horace?”

“Yes, it is. Ours is just the same, only not so many of us. Gussie is mad if I don’t spend a lot, and says I’m mean, and mamma says so too if papa’s present doesn’t suit her. I’m sick of it. Why didn’t you give me anything last Christmas? You always did before.”

The answer would make an article of itself, for as I listened my soul burned within me, and when the child ended, with his calculating little face turned up to mine, I spake with my tongue, and in the end brought a new look into the grave, blue eyes. To him as to too many of us, it had come to be the gift and not the giver, the symbol, and not the fact behind it. This is a one-sided presentation you will say, an arraignment undeserved by many; and even if deserved, the saying which does duty in so many directions, once more comes up: “What are you going to do about it?”

What we must all do, if the day is not to be permanently despoiled of all real significance and beauty, is at once to settle absolutely into simpler lines. The same passive acceptance of custom, that has doubled our work in all home directions and made the multiplication of labor-saving machinery merely a reason for an always increasing ratio of labor, operates here also. A sensible writer in the _Christian Union_ not long ago remarked that in the days of our grandmothers it was ten children to one ruffle, whereas now it was ten ruffles to one child. So it has been with gifts, and the child of the last generation who rejoiced in two or three, considers the child of this defrauded with less than a dozen. Cheap toys, soon destroyed; cheap books, cleaving from their binding in a week; cheap candy, fair to see but slow poison to the eater—fill the stockings and crowd the tree, when the same money would have secured one well-made, perfect gift, worth the keeping for a lifetime. Art in its new adaptations is beginning to teach us the value of honest work, yet with an education which has known flimsiness and tawdriness as the chief characteristic of a child’s possessions, how hard is the transition to simplicity and strength. That we have made such strides away from old conditions is only another proof of the enormous recuperative power, part of the birthright of every American, who, born, it may be, in a log cabin, ends his days as an authorized and accepted art critic. It is safe then to believe that the mass of common sense people need only to consider the bearings of the Christmas craze in its present workings to decide that a change must come, and to take active measures toward such change.

Necessarily, only women can bring about such change, for it is on them that the chief burden of Christmas work has fallen and will continue to fall. For each woman there must be a pause and a well-considered determination as to both amount and degree of effort and expenditure. Where there is little money personal effort is the only substitute.

The numberless fashion magazines are filled at this season with hints for Christmas gifts, some practical and helpful, but more quite useless to limited purses. A few suggestions as to home-made gifts are given here, the reader’s own fancy and memory being trusted to fill out the list, which must necessarily be a limited one.

A most useful present is a sofa pillow, covered with one of those large, bright silk handkerchiefs which are found in gentlemen’s furnishing stores. It may be of cardinal, old gold, blue or olive green, to match the furniture, and must have a darker border. If the corners are plain, a figure of a dog’s head, an owl, or a spray may be outlined in one, with silk of some contrasting hue. Stretch the handkerchief smoothly over the silesia-covered pillow made of a suitable size, turn the ornamented corner back and fasten around its edge, and fit a piece of black velvet neatly in its place. The edge is finished with a silk cord of the same color, and a bow to match is placed on the velvet. The whole can be made in a day, and is both effective and inexpensive. Pine needles or hops may be used for filling the pillow, which may thus be more welcome to an invalid friend.

In place of the handkerchief, some tastes might prefer the crazy patch-work now so much in vogue. If so, the pieces must be very small, and most of them of vivid colors. They will bear any amount of embroidery in quaint designs; flowers, fans and oddities, all on a small scale. Seams are joined with feather-stitching in shaded silk.

As a companion-piece, a head rest goes very nicely. A strip of wool in any desired color may be crocheted in the Afghan stitch, and then dotted irregularly with the conventional palm-leaf, in shaded silk, worked in cross-stitch. If made of linen, the word “Rest” may be outlined in fancy letters—first traced with a pencil—in crewel. A poppy with its leaves falling apart, in place of a period after the word, is suggestive and pretty.

For a literary friend, or to stand by papa’s desk, a waste paper basket may be made in a variety of ways. A lard pail of large size may be covered with plush and lined with silk over pasteboard, fitted separately to the sides and to the circular bottom. If of olive tint, conceal the joining at the top by narrow gilt lace, old gold cord or ribbon ruching, often decorating one side with a spray of large crimson and buff roses, hollyhock blossoms, daisies or sunflowers. These may be procured in appliqué at any fancy store for from a half dollar to three times that sum. It is much preferable, of course, to embroider any fanciful pattern, or to paint a running vine, beginning near the bottom and ending at the top after having encircled the pail. Allowance in decoration must be made for two hoops of old gold satin ribbon, one and a half inches wide, tied in snug bows. Sunflowers are sometimes made with dark brown French knots of silk for the center, and petals of narrow yellow ribbon of several shades. These, cut a proper length, are turned in and fastened with invisible stitches to the plush, making an excellent similitude of this showy flower. These blossoms admit of great skill in arranging and grouping.

The new-fashioned paper water pails are also used as waste paper baskets, and are desirable on account of their lightness and durability. Even a novice can decorate them most effectively. Paint entire surface with dark shaded yellows and browns, or pink deepening to crimson, and when dry trace on this background a conventional trailing vine and a few loose flowers, or red Christmas berries like the holly. They may be copied from any pattern which strikes the fancy, color being desired rather than minuteness of finish. The handle, if not removed, must be wound with ribbon.

Presents of catch-alls or receptacles for the sewing room can be similarly fashioned. A new way is as follows: Take a crimson or parti-colored Japanese fan, remove the rivet holding the sticks together and run a stout cord in its place; the fan is then to be fastened over a pasteboard funnel of just the right size and lined with solid colored paper of some pleasing tint. Ribbon to match, an inch wide, must be woven in and out the sticks close enough to cover the pasteboard, and just above the bottom, in front, secure a drooping bow of two-inch satin ribbon. A few dried oats and grass stitched into the bow, making a tiny bouquet, take off the stiffness of the ornament.

Another receptacle for letters or manuscripts can be made from a couple of plain palm-leaf fans. Cut off the handles even with the edge of the fan and cover one side of each with silk, fastened to the top and sides, and pleated or gathered at the handle. They are lined with silesia, and sewed together at the tips. The tops—where the handles were—are flared apart for a distance of six or eight inches, and then are to be joined two-thirds of the way from the bottom by bright-hued taffeta ribbons, narrow enough to cross easily in small diamonds. Finish with a cockade of the same ribbon where the silk is pleated at the handles. Or the ribbon may be quilled in a V-shaped way down the middle far enough to give the receptacle a heart-shape. A smaller heart of velvet, crossed with a straw-colored arrow in embroidery silk, is a pretty finish for the left-hand corner, with a spray crossing diagonally behind and above. This may be varied by having a diagonal piece of velvet cross the front, or a band of the same near one side, on which is painted, embroidered or appliquéd any favorite design. The colors and arrangement admit of the greatest latitude, and challenge the fancy of the worker.

But this is not the beginning of what may be made of fans, for fanciful or useful presents. Here is a pretty design for a wall pocket: Attach one, nearly open, to a piece of pasteboard not quite its size; from another remove the rivet, insert a cord in its place and tie tightly. Line with paper and thin silk outside of that, and fasten the edges by invisible stitches to that attached to the pasteboard, allowing it to curve outwardly sufficiently to answer the purposes of a receptacle. Finish with a bow.

A series of a dozen bright paper covered bamboo fans, arranged to overlap each other, light up the dark corner of a room on Christmas day, with a play of color of which the eye never tires. These, or the ribbed fans, may be arranged with their handles grouped together and fans diverging from the corner of the ceiling on the sides and top, making an ornament both brilliant and unique. In the same manner they may be employed about the center-piece of a plain ceiling, or in devices on the side walls from which to hang Christmas banners, wreaths or mottoes. On a long side wall small fans may be so grouped as to simulate an eagle, from the talons of which depends a favorite motto.

In dressing a room for Christmas it is important to have all the accessories bright and harmonious. If all the decorations are Japanese, there are a thousand ways of using paper mats, screens and pictures which will suggest themselves with a little experimenting, and these are now everywhere easy to obtain. The entire ceiling may be bordered with a frieze made from a couple of Japanese picture books, which are merely folded pictures several yards in length, when outstretched like a panorama. A dollar’s worth of books will thus impart a brilliancy which nothing else emulates, while the pendant Christmas greens seem the richer by contrast. A few large Chinese lanterns hung from the ceiling, wreathed with simple vines, like princess pine, about the bottom, in addition, will convert the plainest room into a kind of bower, peculiarly fitting it for the festivities of the season. The uttermost parts of the earth must yield up a tithe of all their glory, to aid in illuminating the natal day of the Prince of Peace.

For all parts of the dwelling, a thousand dainty devices are easily made, suitable for presentation on that day. For the dressing bureau, butcher’s cuffs of plaited grass are coarsely embroidered in crewel, with design of rushes, grass, daisies or poppies, springing from the bottom, which is filled in with a circular piece of pasteboard covered with linen. Line with crimson cloth. Scent bottles may be covered with painted ribbon bags, or merely tied with satin ribbon, the ends of which have each the favorite flower of the recipient, or a flower on one and an initial on the other.

For the whisk-brush at the side of the bureau make a tight, straight cover of crash or linen, embroidered or painted, edged with scallops bound with silk. This is drawn close about the handle and tied with a narrow ribbon at the top, and is long enough to come within two inches of the tip. Such a cover will prove far more acceptable than the brush-holder which has been so much used.

For splashers take fine, stiff linen, fitted to the space above the washstand, and hemmed at the ends and sides. Trace lightly with a lead pencil, lengthwise, any suitable pattern. It may be made of irregular, horizontal lines, for water, on which are outlined a duck floating or diving; large water lilies with their graceful leaves and rushes at the edge. Then dissolve India ink in a shallow dish of water, and with a new steel pen go over the outline carefully, repeating where the shade deepens till it is sufficiently heavy. The etching may be made very handsome and striking with a little care; or, a conventional morning-glory vine may obliquely cross the splasher. It is fastened to the wall with minute tacks and a bow at the left-hand upper corner.

Do we wish a table-scarf for a friend? It can be made of felt, of one of the many shades of olive, on which decorations are so well brought out. Line with silesia, and border the ends with a broad band of plush. Finish with outline stitch of contrasting colors, or with transfer-work of fine cretonne or appliqué flowers, made of machine embroidery, to which reference has been made. It is not generally known that felt may be hand-painted in oil with a stiff brush, by the merest novice. Have a large figured embroidery pattern stamped on the felt to give a strong outline. Mix the colors thick and put on with a bold touch. Large flowers or fruit, like blackberries, are showy and effective here and resemble the softest crewel-work at a little distance.

If the square covers are preferred, those hiding the entire table, they are fringed by simply cutting the edges in strips a quarter of an inch wide and six inches deep. Another fringe made precisely the same way, of old gold felt with a narrow heading, is merely tacked under the first, when the hue is olive or wine color. Canton flannel table spreads can be finished and decorated in a similar manner.

Mantel and window lambrequins are made according to the same general plan, of felt, canton flannel, plush, or linen. If the latter, they are embroidered with long stitches in patterns of grass or sedge, daisies or crimson berries, or painted in trailing figures of wild roses.

For a gentleman an umbrella case is always an acceptable present. From a yard of strong, twilled linen, measure a lengthwise strip ten inches wide at the top; taper it on each side to six inches wide at the bottom. On this strip fit another piece of the same linen, shorter and fuller, to give room for two umbrellas. About the right size will make it three-quarters of a yard long, fourteen inches wide at the top, and eight inches at the bottom. Crease the latter lengthwise down the middle; on one side of this crease, outline in black silk the shape of a closed umbrella, ribs, handle and folds, and on the other a smaller sun umbrella. On the upper section of the foundation copy in the same manner figures taken from the Greenaway books. A pleasing device is a couple of children, merrily trudging along in the rain, each under an open umbrella. Then stitch the center of the embroidered strip to the center of the foundation, after laying two pleats in the tip of the shorter and wider strip, so as to make them of the same width. Run the sides and bottoms together, after lining the foundation, and bind the whole with black braid. Attach two strong loops to the top to suspend from hooks.

For the little ones naught can come amiss. Stockings of coarse white lace, with slipper tips of blue or pink, and a dainty knot of ribbon in front; all sorts of fancy ornaments made of stiff paper and covered with gold and silver paper; cornucopias, boxes and toys without end—their variety and name are legion. A pretty bon-bon receptacle is made in this way: Take a square of silk measuring from eighteen to twenty-seven inches, of any color desired—a bright handkerchief will do—and mark within it a perfect circle small enough to be three inches from the middle of the sides. Make a shirr at this mark, in which draw two ribbons in such a manner as to pull together like a work-bag. Trim the edge with black or white lace, and you have a beautiful bag, after the bon-bons are gone. If you choose to give a unique finish it is easily done. Soak your own photograph in water long enough to remove the picture from the back; dry carefully, and gum to one corner.

So much for gifts and home decorations, the list of which might be indefinitely extended. The Christmas dinner is always a matter of study—to the young housekeeper sometimes despair. Let it be remembered that on that day everyone from the children to the grandmother has nibbled at candies and nuts, and all tempting Christmas sweets, and that, even if the richest of mince pies and plum puddings seem none too good for the occasion, a simpler dessert of delicate blanc-manges or jellies will leave the eater a clearer head than the heavier mixtures. Two menus are given, one under protest and elaborate enough for the most persistent believer in many courses; the other far simpler, and quite possible for even the young housekeeper, who is ambitious to show what she can do. So many admirable cook-books are now before the public that it seems invidious to mention any special one. But the writer, who some years ago had occasion to examine carefully one hundred and forty-three, finds that where many have done excellently, one recent one embodies most perfectly their best features. It is the Boston Cooking School and its director, Mrs. Lincoln, to whom we owe this most admirably planned book, in which every receipt has been personally tested. Mrs. Ewing may be depended upon also as an authority, and there is a compact little manual known as “The Easiest Way in Housekeeping and Cooking,” which has brought to its author scores of letters from the housekeepers who have found it a friend. In any of these books accurate rules will be found for the dishes given in both menus.

I.

Oysters on Half-shell. Amber Soup. Roast Turkey, Made Gravy. Boiled Tongue, Sauce Piquante. Sweet Potatoes; White Potato Mashed. Macaroni, with Cheese. Cranberry Sauce. Celery Salad and Wafers. Mince Pie, Plum Pudding, with Cream Sauce, Lemon Jelly, Fruit, Nuts, Raisins, Ices, Black Coffee.

II.

Oyster Soup. Roast Turkey, Made Gravy. Mashed Potato; Sweet Potato; Squash. Macaroni, with Cheese. Cranberry Sauce; Celery. Plum Pudding, Cream Sauce. Fruit, Nuts and Raisins. Black Coffee.

For a family where the mistress must do all with her own hands, omit the soup and at least one vegetable in the second menu. It would be wisdom also to substitute for the rich pudding a mould of blanc-mange or lemon jelly, but these are matters of personal decision.

The home dinner decided upon, every woman will remember the poorer homes where festivity can never be possible, save as the means for it come from others. It is easy to find ways of adding some unaccustomed luxury—a little fruit, some nuts and raisins, or perhaps even the turkey itself to the table of some hard-working, self-respecting head of a family, who finds the dollars always too few, yet asks favors of no man. Often a little coöperation would secure a good Christmas dinner to many who alone would be unable to buy it. By settling upon how much can be spent, and giving the sum to some authorized buyer, wholesale prices may often be had. To accomplish this for half a dozen poor families in a given neighborhood, would often be truer charity than any giving, and pave the way to coöperation in other ways. On no other day of the three hundred and sixty-five can we answer as readily the question, “Who is my neighbor?” as on this one sacred to love, both human and divine, and demanding love as its highest expression. There may be no time for any elaborate church service, to which a morning must be given, but evening if not morning should hold some assembling together, and in a neighborhood where many poor, or workers in factories or mills are to be found, a simple entertainment—play, charade, light concert, or stereopticon might well have its opening word, thoughtful and tender, of the Christ-child; his love for every weary and toiling child of earth, and his joy in their joy. Where there is no such population there is no less need of a general as well as a special assembling. In short, by judicious planning, it will be possible not only to cover all necessary ground of home pleasure in the day, but to make part also of such evening entertainment as may seem good. A church dinner has been given, made up of prepared food sent in by various members, all that remained being taken home by the eaters. Each year has had its suggestions for Christmas pleasure for the poor always with us, and at such a season denominational differences slip out of sight, and counsel can satisfactorily be taken together by the working members of all churches. Union festivals have already proved successful, and may be perfected still more in detail, the warmth of this joint action for a common good lasting long beyond the day of its accomplishment. If the day has its dangers it holds also its delights, and may be more and more the occasion for the sweetest and tenderest thought and labor that we have to give—a never-failing spring of pleasure to every soul who knows its real meaning and works toward a fulfillment of that meaning.

DO ANIMALS FEIGN DEATH?

BY M. ROMANES.

Translated for THE CHAUTAUQUAN from the _Révue Scientifique_.

It is a well known fact that animals belonging to different orders and even to different classes, manifest, when they are in danger, the instinct of feigning death. As it is evidently impossible to attribute this to any idea of death, and a conscious simulation of it on the part of the animals, the subject acquires importance, and merits our consideration. I will cite briefly some facts I have been able to gather, and will then attempt some explanation.

The most familiar examples of the instinct in question are furnished by various sorts of insects and spiders, many of which will allow themselves to be torn limb from limb, or to be burned until death follows, without making the least movement. “Among fishes the captured sturgeon often remains motionless and passive in the net, while the perch seems to be dead and floats upon its back.” Wrangle tells us that the wild geese of Liberia, if they are disturbed during their moulting season, when they are unable to fly, will stretch themselves out upon the ground and appear lifeless, thus deceiving the hunter. According to Couch, the same thing occurs among crakes, larks, and other birds. Of mammals the same author says: “The opossum of North America is so celebrated for its pretense of death that its name has passed into proverb for expressing this kind of deception,” He also gives examples of the same fact noticed among mice, squirrels, and weasels, while those told of wolves and foxes are so numerous that I think no one can reasonably doubt their truth. Captain Lyon, in the narration of his expedition to the North Pole, says that a wolf was one day caught in a trap, and, supposing it to be dead, they dragged it on board. After awhile, as it lay stretched out on deck, some one noticed that it moved its eyes every time any object passed near it. They thought best then to take some precautions; its limbs were bound, and they put it in such a position as to leave its head without support. To their great surprise it soon made a vigorous bound toward those who were near by, and then tried to reach back and bite off the rope which held it. There are many examples on record of foxes assuming the appearance of death. Mr. Blyth says: “A fox was once known, when it was surprised in a poultry yard, to lie as if dead; it let them drag it out by the tail and cast it upon a compost heap; but, that done, it sprang to its feet and sped away with all possible haste.”

This high degree of simulation and dissimulation has been attributed to the sagacity of the animals, which, when they do not see any better means of escape, leads them to seem to be incapable of defending themselves, or fleeing, until they have disarmed all suspicions, and thus caused all hostile efforts toward them to cease.

According to Jesse, even serpents will feign death and remain motionless as long as any one is watching them, but when they think their enemies have withdrawn and all danger is passed, they will make a rapid escape. The author of a “Natural History of Birds” relates that at one time a crake was brought by a dog to his master. The gentleman turned it over with his foot as it lay upon the ground, and convinced himself that it was dead. After a time, however, he saw it open one eye; he picked it up, but again it had all the appearance of a dead bird. He put it in his pocket, and after a few minutes he felt it flutter. He examined it a third time, but discovered no signs of life. He then placed it on the ground and withdrew to a little distance in order to watch it. At the end of about five minutes the bird raised its head with precaution, looked around, and then took itself off in the liveliest manner imaginable.

Bingley says: “This strategem, as it appears, is employed by the common crab, which, when it apprehends danger, remains motionless, waiting an opportunity to bury itself in the sand.”

The subject claims serious attention, because, on one side, as has been said above, it is evident that the conscious simulation of death implies the possession of a faculty more elevated than any that we know belonging even to the most intelligent animals; on the other side, it is not easy to explain these facts on any other basis. Couch offers the following: “A very reasonable explanation is, that the suddenness of the encounter with man in an unexpected moment, results in its stupefaction, or throws the animal into such a state that it can not make an effort to flee. The appearance of death is not a ruse with it; it is the consequence of its terror. It is said, if a wolf falls into a ditch the surprise is so great, and deprives him of his powers to such an extent that a man can descend to his side without fear. Also, whenever a wolf loses its way in a strange country, it loses, beside, much of its courage, and can be attacked with impunity.”

It is not easy to find a weasel asleep, or not thoroughly on its guard, but what seems least likely of all is that a weasel would allow itself to be rolled over, played with, and tossed up by a cat. It happened once, however, that while a cat was tranquilly stretched out, a weasel passed by; it was caught in the twinkling of an eye and carried toward the house, situated at quite a little distance away. The door being shut, the cat, deceived by the apparent lifeless condition of its victim, dropped it upon the sill and mewed, as was its custom, for some one to open the door. But at that moment the senses of the alert little creature returned, and it set its teeth into the nose of its enemy. It is probable that, beside itself with surprise at its capture, the manner in which the cat held it by its back had prevented it from making any resistance whatever before that moment; for in catching them up in this manner, our little quadrupeds, that bite so ferociously, can be held without fear of being wounded. But one can scarcely think that the weasel had the intention of deceiving the cat all the time it was in its mouth. This hypothesis would need to be supported by special tests before meriting acceptance.

The tests should consist in permitting the animal, as soon as it feigned death, to regain its liberty, and in watching it without its knowledge. If for any length of time it remained motionless, the fact would support the theory of Couch. Instead of this, if it very soon sprang up and tried to escape it would seem necessary to decide that it voluntarily and consciously assumed that appearance.

I thought once I had found an opportunity for making a test of this question, and perhaps for arriving at some satisfactory explanation of this seeming deception on the part of animals. Having entrapped a squirrel I noticed that it immediately became motionless. I took it out of the trap and placed it on the ground, then concealed myself and watched long enough for it to recover itself; but as it did not stir I went to examine it, and found that it was really dead. This incident supports the hypothesis of Couch, for it shows that terror may be sufficient to cause the death of an animal.

Professor Preyer attributes exclusively to catalepsy this lifeless appearance in insects. Having observed the power of this disease to produce a similar condition in the system of the higher animals, he logically concludes that the same cause must bring about the same effect in all animals. On the other hand, for I do not wish to shun the difficult sides of the question, there are facts going to show that some monkeys feign death deliberately, not to escape from enemies, but to mislead their presumptive victims. Here it becomes necessary to seek some other explanation. Dr. Bryden says that certain monkeys having observed crows gathering around the carcass of a monkey, may have concluded that by becoming motionless they might induce them to come within their reach. Without doubt this presupposes a high degree of intelligence, but it does not imply an abstract idea of death, but rather only the idea of imitating an object already remarked, with the desire of bringing about a similar result.

Thus, in spite of the probability that this strange action on the part of the higher animals is due to catalepsy, there is a possibility that it may be the result of an intelligent design.

The following incident published by G. Bidie seems rather to substantiate the latter hypothesis.

“Some years ago, when I was living in the western part of Mysore, India, I occupied a house surrounded by several acres of good pasturage. The fine turf of this enclosure tempted the cattle, and whenever the gates were open they did not fail to make an entrance. My servants did their best to keep out the intruders; but one day they came to me, deeply troubled, saying that a Brahmin bull which they had struck, had fallen down dead. I will remark in passing that these bulls are sacred and privileged animals which are allowed to roam at will. Upon hearing that the marauder was dead I went immediately to see him; there he lay, stretched out, to all appearances stone dead. Uneasy enough over the circumstance which would be very apt to stir up enemies against me, I returned to the house with the intention of going to acquaint the authorities of the district with the affair; but presently some one came running up and joyously informed me that he was upon his feet quietly browsing in the field. Suffice it to say that he was in the habit of feigning death, which rendered his expulsion practically impossible, every time he found himself in a pasture which pleased him, and from which he did not wish to be turned away. This ruse was repeated several times, and although very amusing at first, we at length grew tired of it. So one day when he was lying as if dead I ordered the cook to bring a pan of live coals, and placed it near him. At first he paid no attention, but as the heat began to increase, he slowly raised his head, looked sharply at the coals a moment, sprang to his feet, and leaped over the fence with the agility of a stag. That was the last time he honored us with his presence.”

The idea of the animal might have been only to resist expulsion by opposing its whole weight to any efforts made in that direction. The case however is remarkable, and I prefer not to express an opinion in favor of either hypothesis. I hope only to provoke experimental researches, which can be made by any one who will take the occasion so to do.

The experiments of Professor Darwin in regard to insects and spiders put it out of the question that these creatures adopt as a ruse this appearance of death, or act with any design in the matter. The facts as regards animals higher in the scale of life call, on the other hand, for some different conclusion; but before this can be reached further research must be made, and other facts added to those already known.

THE WAR DEPARTMENT.

BY OLIVER W. LONGAN.

The word “department,” as used in connection with the principal divisions through or by which the executive affairs of the government are administered, has very little if any significance, because it applies as well to the smallest subdivisions as to the three coördinate powers of our republic. Still another use was given it by a candidate for government appointment who, in response to a requirement of the Civil Service Commission to name the three great departments of the government, introduced a new application of the word by writing, “the Republican, the Democratic, and the Independent.” And so with the name “War Department,” its use applies it with equal propriety to the organization which administers the military affairs of the government and to the building in which its offices are located, just as the word church applies to the building and to the society of people which worships in it.

The War Department is one (the third in point of classification) of the seven divisions of the executive branch of the government whose chief officers form the President’s cabinet. It comprises, beside the office of the Secretary of War, ten minor divisions called “staff departments,” or “bureaus,” each under the direction of an officer who holds the rank and position of a brigadier-general in the United States army, and including a military force of officers of the several ranks from captain up to colonel, some of whom are on duty in the offices in Washington, but a majority performing the duties appertaining to their respective bureaus at military posts, or at the headquarters of the military geographical departments and divisions, or elsewhere as they may be directed by the Secretary of War. Each bureau has also a force of civilian employes who perform the clerical duties of the department under the direction of their respective officers. The clerks are divided into grades as follows, the salaries being determined by the grades: Chief clerks, $2,000; clerks, class four, $1,800; class three, $1,600; class two, $1,400; class one, $1,200; clerks, $1,000; copyists, $900; the other employes being messengers, assistant messengers, watchmen, mechanics, laborers, etc. The names of the subdivisions are the Adjutant-General’s, the Inspector General’s, the Judge Advocate-General’s, the Quartermaster’s, the Subsistence, the Medical, the Pay, and the Ordnance Departments, the Corps of Engineers and the Signal Corps. The business of these bureaus will be mentioned in their order.

During the first year of the revolutionary war, and before the colonists had abandoned all hope that their difficulties with the mother country might be settled by a just recognition of their rights as English subjects, the colonial army under Washington was directed by the Continental Congress at Philadelphia. Ten days prior to the first anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill, a resolution to absolve all allegiance to the British crown was introduced in Congress, and five days thereafter a resolution was adopted to appoint a “Board of War and Ordnance,” to consist of five members of the Congress, to be organized as a war office which was to be the channel for military correspondence and orders, and an office of record to which the officers commanding in the army were required to send reports of the condition and disposition of troops. Washington wrote in reply to a dispatch from the President of the Congress, informing him of the institution of the board, that it “is certainly an event of great importance, and in all probability will be recorded as such in the historic page.” As a beginning it possesses the interest to us to-day which attaches to all our institutions whose history can be traced up to the present degree of efficiency and finished organization which we regard with such pride and satisfaction, and which brings the feeling of security we enjoy in the midst of the most trying times of uncertainty. After a little more than one year of administration of military affairs by the Board of War and Ordnance as an advisory committee to Congress, a new organization was made called the “Board of War,” consisting of three persons not members of the Congress, and the number was soon afterward increased to five members, who are frequently mentioned in the resolutions pertaining to the conduct of the war as Commissioners of the War Office, and the board is sometimes mentioned under the old, and sometimes under the new name. A review of the instructions and resolves of Congress to the board, and through it to the army, making regulations, appointing committees, creating offices for the control of supplies, money and war material, conferring or restricting authority and responsibility, reveals the character of the times and the inexperience of men better than the history of their individual acts can do it, and increases the marvel that success was ever reached through such apparent confusion; but it must have been a grand period for men who did not hesitate to undertake and plan and execute without the aid of “precedent,” that potent influence which gives shape to a large proportion of executive administration to-day. But the time approached when the question of national organization must be settled, and although the prospect at the time (early in 1781) appeared to afford no more promise of final success than at any time during the struggle there seemed to be an intuition which led to a disposition of military affairs, so that the details might be gradually relinquished by the Congress to the charge of one executive officer in addition to the Commander-in-Chief whose authority was never curtailed by a department up to the hour he returned his commission to the body which had conferred it upon him. Early in 1781 the Congress undertook a plan for the establishment of executive departments, and one of the offices created was that of “Secretary at War”—notice the preposition—with powers similar to those of the “Board of War,” but enlarged in their scope, and released in a measure from supervisory direction. The board continued to act, however, for several months, probably because the Congress was unable to select the right man to fill the new office, but on the 30th of October, 1781, the officer who, ten days before, had received the sword of the defeated British general at Yorktown, was elected Secretary at War. The coincidence of surnames justifies the remark here that the first Secretary at War and the present Secretary of War bear the same. Step by step for a few succeeding years the duties and powers of the office were specifically defined by legislation, but at such intervals as to make the rules appear fragmentary, until on the 27th of January, 1785, a revision was made and all the loose lines were gathered into one instrument, which had for its enacting clause, “_Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled_,” and directed the Secretary at War to “keep a public and convenient office in the place where Congress shall reside,” and that office for the first time was dignified with the name “Department of War.” The resolves of Congress began also to take the form of instructions to the Secretary at War to issue his orders to the army, thus indirectly raising his position in the scale of authority and control to one not yet specifically recognized. An even administration follows until the end of the confederation and the new organization of executive departments under the constitution of the United States. A report made to Congress October 2, 1788, by a committee which had been appointed for the purpose of inquiring into the business of the Department of War, shows that the number of employes then in the department was four, whose aggregate annual compensation was $1,500. To-day the force of more than fifteen hundred employes, receiving the gross sum of $1,820,830, makes a notable contrast, and indicates the volume of increase in the business and the wonderful change of values.

The new government, under the constitution, went into operation practically on the 30th of April, 1789, when Washington was inaugurated at the old City Hall in New York as the first President of the United States, and became the “commander-in-chief of the army and navy.” The first act of Congress relating to military affairs, to be approved by him, was the act of August 7, 1789, which directed “that there shall be an executive department, to be denominated the Department of War; and that there shall be a principal officer therein to be called the Secretary for the Department of War.” This officer was to perform such duties as the President should direct relating to military commissions, land or naval forces, ships, or warlike stores, or Indian affairs, or the granting of bounty lands, or “such other matters respecting military or naval affairs as the President of the United States shall assign to said department.” He was also authorized to appoint a chief clerk, who in the event of the removal of the Secretary, or the occurrence of a vacancy, should have charge of the records, books, and papers of the department (naval affairs, public lands, Indian affairs, and pensions were afterward transferred to other departments).

The title of “Secretary of War” appears to have been adopted as a matter of choice by the first Secretary appointed by Washington, the only change from the old title, it will be noticed, being the use of the preposition _of_ for _at_, a change which we will agree could not to-day be reversed without provoking a liberal amount of criticism, both serious and humorous, if judgment may be taken from the notice universally given to trifling matters for the purpose of seasoning the news as we season our food, to give it a relish which an educated but not always cultivated taste demands.

During a period of years succeeding the establishing of the War Department, up to the war of 1812, it appeared to be an agency, simple in organization and limited in authority, which is rarely mentioned in legislative acts, for it is a notable fact that the acts of Congress during this period relating to military affairs were almost all addressed to the President of the United States. Time and the progress of events brought to the Department other and more important matters than the clerical work of correspondence and keeping records, and the work not only of obtaining and preserving all manner of army supplies, but of providing for their production, led to the establishment of minor agencies, each one as it was brought into existence, adding to the functions of the Secretary of War, and giving him a superior directing authority. These agencies became subordinate to the War Department, but were liable to and did share with the army in the legislation which from time to time created or disbanded the active forces as the circumstances required. The departmental divisions of business were continued, however, and when one and another of the offices which corresponded with our present staff departments were discontinued the duties were maintained by provisional means until they were restored, or others of similar nature were created to take their places. In the course of time the bureaus became permanently established, and formed the links which connected the War Department, a civil office, with the army, and the Secretary of War, whose position in the beginning was simply that of an agent of the President for the administration of military affairs has come to be recognized as holding discretionary power and authority, although no change has taken place in his relations to the President on the one hand, or to the army on the other, except that in later years the laws and resolves of Congress relating to the business which he administers are addressed to him directly, instead of to the President, as in former years.

The interval which we must make here in the history of the department might be filled with items indicating its place and power during the period omitted, but the line of progress has been direct, and regularly approaching the condition which makes it possible at any time to accelerate its operations for the prosecution of active warfare, or to permit them to sink to the dream of peace, without, in either case, disturbing the perfect system of business.

That portion of the business of the War Department transacted under the immediate direction of the Secretary of War and the chief clerk of the Department, comprises divisions of records, correspondence, requisitions and accounts, advertising accounts, miscellaneous supplies, and connected therewith is a library of about sixteen thousand five hundred volumes, from which any employe of the Department may obtain books for temporary use. No proper idea of the business can be given in a written description without taking too much space for this article. As the central office of the Department, and having direction of the affairs of the several bureaus, all important matters connected therewith pass through it for the action of the Secretary.

The Adjutant-General now has charge of the records which in the early days were received and preserved in the War Office. He publishes all orders and conducts all correspondence from the Secretary of War and the commanding General to the army, issues appointments and commissions, receives, records and arranges for use and preservation rolls, reports and other official papers pertaining to the personal history of every officer and soldier in the army, from the day of appointment or enlistment up to the date the service ceases, from whatever cause; has charge of the business pertaining to the military academy, the military prisons, the recruiting service, the military reservations, and the records of bureaus and commands which existed during the war of the rebellion, and have since been discontinued; and from the records in his department the information necessary to the settlement of pension and other claims of officers and soldiers, of whatever nature, growing out of their service, is furnished.

The duties under the Inspector-General are the inspection of military posts and troops, particularly with reference to material, supplies, disbursing accounts, and any matters connected with the military establishment or pertaining to military laws or regulations upon which reports or advice may be required by the Department for the promotion of discipline, the proper performance of duty, or the reformation of abuses.

The Judge Advocate-General receives, reviews and records the proceedings of all military trials, and furnishes reports and information therefrom whenever required, and gives opinions upon such questions of law as may be referred to him by the Department.

The Quartermaster’s Department is charged with the duty of furnishing transportation for troops, materials of all kinds, and all supplies; horses for cavalry and artillery; all camp and garrison equipage, forage, fuel and buildings; in a word, all manner of supplies except food, medicines, arms, and ammunition. The national cemeteries are under charge of the officers of this department.

The Subsistence Department provides all the food for the army, being charged with the duty of purchasing, distributing and issuing to all the stations occupied by troops. It also keeps in store for sale to officers many articles of regular supply not included in the ration table. The office of the Commissary-General of Subsistence occupies the building half a square north of the Treasury Department, in which Mr. Seward lived when he was Secretary of State under President Lincoln, and where the attempt was made to take his life on the same night the President was assassinated.

The Pay Department is just what its name indicates. From its officers every person in the military service, from the commanding General to the recruit receives his salary or pay. All persons in government employ immediately connected with the army, who are not paid by the Quartermaster’s Department, receive their pay from the Pay Department.

The Medical Department, under the direction of the Surgeon-General, is charged with the care of the sick and wounded, and for this purpose procures all medicines, medical and surgical appliances, and other supplies appertaining to that special branch of the service. It is also an office of record, receives reports of all cases of disease, wounds or injury in the army, and furnishes information therefrom upon claims for pensions. It also furnishes artificial limbs to persons entitled to them, or pays a commutation in lieu thereof, to those who prefer it. The Department has collected a library of sixty-five thousand seven hundred bound volumes, forty-seven thousand pamphlets, and thirty-eight thousand dissertations upon subjects pertaining to the medical profession, which, with a medical museum of great value, occupies the building in which President Lincoln was assassinated.

The Corps of Engineers is a distinct arm of the service as well as a division of the War Department, and enjoys the distinction of an organization since 1802, when it was constituted the Military Academy, and held its connection with it for more than sixty years. Among the duties performed by the corps are the construction of sea coast defenses, fortifications, survey and construction of river and harbor improvements, geographical and lake surveys, and any other duties in the line of engineering, whether connected with the military establishment or not, to which its officers may be assigned by competent authority.

The Ordnance Department is charged with duties appertaining exclusively to the military establishment, the manufacture and storage of every description of gun or firearm, large or small, and of all kinds of warlike weapons, projectiles, and ammunition; of all equipments pertaining to the artillery arm of the service; with the experimental tests of all improved guns, and with the care of armories and arsenals. The injunction “in time of peace prepare for war” is practically heeded by this department.

The Signal Corps is an organization of comparatively recent date, but well known through the daily reports of indications or probabilities of the weather. In time of war the duties of the corps have been the transmission of messages by signal flags, colored lights, or the telegraph. In time of peace the instruction of officers and men in the use of signals and the telegraph and the construction of field telegraph lines is carried on. The limited space allowed for this article will not admit of a description of the service in connection with the observations of the weather, but these observations will be made the subject of a future article.

All the subordinate departments which are charged with the purchase of supplies have, as the Pay Department also has, the disbursement of very large appropriations, and the accountability for the funds and the property obtained is under a perfect system, governed by regulations which apply equally to all. The reports and returns pertaining thereto, which are made monthly and quarterly, are first examined in the bureaus of the War Department, and are then transferred to the accounting officers of the Treasury Department, where they are finally audited and settled.

The present home of the War Department is in the new granite building known as the “State, War, and Navy Building,” immediately west of, and about the length of one square from the President’s mansion. The Department occupies the north wing, and will occupy the west and court-yard wings when completed. These “wings” are the divisions of the building, which form four sides, as four complete buildings might be placed to form a rectangle, with a large court in the center which is intersected by the fifth or court-yard wing. The whole area covered by the building, its approaches and courts is nearly four and one half acres. The cost of the completed portion has been about eight and one half million dollars. The office of the Secretary of War, and a portion of the office of the Adjutant-General is all that has yet found permanent quarters in the building, the east wing occupied by the Navy Department, and the south wing by the State Department. A full description of the structure may be postponed till its completion.

MILTON AS THE POETS’ POET.

BY WILLIAM CLEAVER WILKINSON.

On the illuminated calendar of the C. L. S. C. appears this month the illustrious name of Milton. There remains hardly anything at the same time new and true to be said of the author of “Paradise Lost.” It has, however, occurred to me that the members of our ever widening Circle might be glad to see what a rich garland he wears as poets’ poet. This title has at different times been given to several different English names. Spenser was perhaps the first to receive it. Milton deserves it not less than Spenser. More, perhaps—for beside being a favorite poet with poets, Milton has happened also to be made the subject of poetical description and ascription beyond, as I should suppose, the fortune of any rival whatever.

It will, perhaps, be interesting, if not instructive, to gather here into a sheaf some of the laurels that have thus been wreathed around the brow of Milton by the laureate company of the poets since his day. The subject will be poetry, and poetry, too, will be the main part of the discussion.

Of course there is no way but to begin with Dryden’s famous hexastich:

Three poets in three distant ages born Greece, Italy, and England did adorn; The first in loftiness of thought surpassed; The next in majesty; in both the last. The force of nature could no further go; To make a third, she joined the other two.

The foregoing is not very good poetry, but it is very good epigram, as might have been expected—for Dryden is a master epigrammatist, if but an indifferent poet. Do not scrutinize the present epigram too nicely, and how admirable it is! The last two lines are the gist of it. What precedes is only preparation for these two. Necessary preparation, but as criticism, not ideal. For though “loftiness of thought,” answering for sublimity, may doubtfully do to stand as the chief characteristic of Homer, and though Virgil’s quality may fairly well be expressed in the single word “majesty,” these two things, conceived as different from one another, can not be said to compose together the character of Milton. Milton surpasses in sublimity, no doubt, and he is surpassingly majestic; but you would hardly balance the one attribute against the other to express summarily his complement of qualities. The two attributes, sublimity and majesty, resemble each other too much to be good antitheses. But this paper is not to be a criticism.

Let us have a sharp contrast next. Gray in his ode on the “Progress of Poets:”

Nor second he,

(The poet means not second to Shakspere, whom he has just celebrated)

Nor second he, that rode sublime Upon the seraph wings of ecstacy The secrets of the abyss to spy. He passed the flaming bounds of place and time, The living throne, the sapphire blaze, Where angels tremble while they gaze, He saw; but blasted with excess of light Closed his eyes in endless night.

Gray’s method is nowhere better exemplified than in this resplendent tribute to Milton. The very terms in which he glorifies his subject are with fine adaptation borrowed from that subject himself. The coincidence upon which here we chance is too good to be disregarded. Let us digress enough to bring in Gray’s sympathetically varied characterization of Dryden which immediately follows in the text of the ode:

Behold where Dryden’s less presumptuous care Wide o’er the fields of glory bear Two coursers of ethereal race With necks in thunder clothed, and long resounding pace.

The equaling of Milton with Shakspere by Gray reminds of Tennyson in his “Palace of Art:”

And there was Milton, like a seraph strong, _Beside him_ Shakspere bland and mild.

But Tennyson has something more elaborate on Milton. This happens to be in one of his experimental pieces. Trying that master hand of his—turned “’prentice” on this occasion—at alcaics, a meter not often attempted in English, he makes Milton his inspiration:

O mighty-mouthed inventor of harmonies, O skill’d to sing of Time or Eternity, God-gifted organ-voice of England, Milton, a name to resound for ages, Whose Titan angels, Gabriel, Abdiel, Starr’d from Jehovah’s gorgeous armories, Tower, as the deep-domed empyrean Rings to the roar of an angel onset— Me rather all that bowery loneliness, The brooks of Eden mazily murmuring, And bloom profuse and cedar arches Charm, as a wanderer out in ocean, Where some refulgent sunset of India Streams o’er a rich ambrosial ocean isle, And crimson-hued the stately palm woods Whisper in odorous heights of even.

From one poet laureate of England to another is an easy transition. Run we back to Wordsworth. Of Wordsworth’s sonnet to Milton I need give only the last six lines:

Thy soul was like a star, and dwelt apart, Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea; Pure as the naked heavens—majestic, free, So didst thou travel on life’s common way In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay.

Very different in spirit from anything hitherto given is that burst of Shelley’s in his “Adonais,” allusive to Milton. It is curious how Shelley, in his unchastised youth of eager beating against the bars of convention and law, found his sympathy with Milton as much in ideas political as in ideas poetical:

He died Who was the sire of an immortal strain, Blind, old, and lonely, when his country’s pride— The priest, the slave, and the liberticide. Trampled and mocked with many a loathed rite Of lust and blood; he went, unterrified, Into the gulf of death; but his clear sprite Yet reigns o’er earth; the third among the sons of light.

It is the triumph of Milton as poet that he keeps his empire undisputed over minds that kicked with utmost energy against those religious sentiments which not only Milton the man held dearest, but which Milton the poet insisted on making of the very fabric of his verse. Byron, too, and this amidst the ribald freedom of his “Don Juan”—_amidst_ the freedom of it, and _with_ the freedom of it—says of Milton:

A little heavy but no less divine.

It will provide a conclusion conformed to a canon of ancient art in letters which forbade climax at the close, if now we present some lines from Byron, remarkable indeed, rather for ingenuity of adaptation than for high poetry, but still illustrative of the esteem compelled from their author for the sublime genius of Milton. The lines to be cited belong to Byron’s “Hints from Horace,” a work generally neglected, but certainly of notable merit, if not comparatively so good as Byron himself accounted it—who, I believe, preferred this satirical paraphrase of Horace to his “Childe Harold.” For the full appreciation of the passage following, one rather needs to have before him for comparison the corresponding text of Horace. Byron paraphrases and satirizes, the reins flung loose on the neck of his foaming Pegasus. Bowles and Southey have just been named for contempt, when, in contrast, the modesty and majesty of Milton’s opening is referred to:

Not so of yore awoke your mighty sire The tempered warblings of his master lyre; Soft as the gentle breathings of the lute “Of man’s first disobedience and the fruit” He speaks, but, as his subject swells along, Earth, heaven and Hades echo with the song. Still to the midst of things he hastens on, As if we witnessed all already done; Leaves on his path whatever seems too mean To raise the subject, or adorn the scene; Gives, as each page improves upon the sight Not smoke from brightness, but from darkness light; And truth and fiction with such art confounds, We know not where to fix their several bounds.

“There is more of poetry,” says Moore, “in these verses upon Milton than in any other passage throughout the paraphrase.” And more truth than poetry at that, one might justly add.

The subject is not exhausted, but enough has been produced to show that, in an eminent sense, Milton is a poets’ poet. I bespeak for my favorite among all the bards of all time a joyous and grateful observance of his annual day from every loyal Chautauquan.

GEOGRAPHY OF THE HEAVENS FOR DECEMBER.

BY PROF. M. B. GOFF,

Western University of Pennsylvania.

THE TELESCOPE.

Since much that we know about the heavenly bodies, has been revealed to us through the medium of the telescope, it may be advisable to give some slight account of this instrument. As early as 1608 it appears to have been invented in Holland by a professor of mathematics named James Metius, though the honor is claimed by their friends for several other parties, among them Lipperhey and Jansen, spectacle makers in the town of Middleburg. The claims of Jansen were supported by Peter Borelli, in a small volume published in 1655, entitled “De Vero Telescopii Inventore,” and he was for a long time regarded as the inventor. The story runs that Jansen had shown a telescope sixteen inches long to Prince Maurice and Archduke Albert, who realizing the importance of such an invention in war, induced him to keep it a secret. But the narrative given by Borelli rested on such a slight foundation, that it obtained but little credence. Later evidence shows that Hans Lipperhey, on the 2d of November, 1608, made application to the states-general of Holland for a patent for “an instrument to see with at a distance,” but was refused on the ground that the invention was already known. While there is little doubt but that the discovery was, as claimed, made in Holland, it is also highly probable that great efforts were put forth for some time to keep the matter a profound secret. At least, no results were published to the world until made known by Galileo in the manner thus related by Professor Newcomb: “About six months after the petitions (for patents to the states-general of Holland) of Lipperhey and Metius, Galileo was in Venice on a visit, and there received a letter from Paris, in which the invention was mentioned. He at once set himself to the re-invention of the instrument, and was so successful that in a few days he exhibited to the astonished authorities of the city a telescope magnifying three times. Returning to his home in Florence, he made other and larger ones which revealed to him spots on the sun, the phases of Venus, the mountains of the moon, the satellites of Jupiter, the seeming handles of Saturn, and some of the myriads of stars, separately invisible to the naked eye, but whose combined light forms the milky way. But the largest of these instruments magnified only about thirty times, and was so imperfect in construction as to be far from showing as much as can be seen with a modern telescope of the same power.”

The telescope has been aptly compared to an eye. In the eye nearly parallel rays of light fall on a lens, and this lens throws an image. In the telescope, nearly parallel rays of light fall on a lens, and this lens throws an image, and then another lens enables the eye to form an image of that image by again rendering the rays parallel; these parallel rays entering the eye just as rays do in ordinary vision. The efficiency of the telescope depends on its power of illuminating and magnifying. If the object glass (in a “refractor,” as an ordinary spy-glass, the lens next the object viewed) be twenty times greater than the pupil of the eye, it receives twenty times more light, and forms an image theoretically twenty times as bright (though practically much of the light is lost by reflection from and passage through the object glass). The magnifying power depends on the relative focal length (the distance from the lens to the image) of the object glass and the eye-glass (the lens next the eye). For example, if the focal length of the object glass be twenty-five inches, and that of the eye-glass one-half inch, then the magnifying power is represented by the quotient of twenty-five by one-half, which is fifty. In order to obtain a good image the illuminating power must be good and the magnifying glass (eye-piece) perform its work well.

Since the time of Galileo, refracting telescopes have been of course much improved. Their size also has increased until they are now constructed with object glasses twenty-six inches in diameter; and it is reported that one is projected for the Lick Observatory in California, which is to have an objective thirty-six inches in diameter. Reflecting telescopes, so called because instead of refracting or bending the rays of light, they reflect them from a concave mirror, have been constructed with circular mirrors six feet in diameter, and it is believed by some makers that they can be successfully operated when the mirrors are as much as seven or eight feet in diameter.

It must not be supposed, however, that in general the greater the telescope, the more successful the observations. Both calculation and experience indicate a limit beyond which increase in size, even if it affords greater power, diminishes in clearness. And it is of little value to us that we bring the moon apparently within forty miles, if we can not distinguish its features—if the face of the “man in the moon” should be a mere blur, like a blot on a piece of paper. It is, in fact, exceedingly doubtful whether the moon has ever been seen through the telescope so well as it would be seen with the naked eye at a distance of 500 miles.

To afford an idea of what has been done in the manufacture of these instruments we mention the following: Of refractors, the one in the United States Naval Observatory at Washington has an object glass twenty-six inches in diameter; that of Mr. R. S. Newall, Gateshead, England, an object glass of twenty-five inches; Observatory of Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., fifteen inches; Allegheny Observatory, connected with the Western University of Pennsylvania, at Allegheny, Pa., thirteen inches; Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, Mich., twelve and five-tenths inches; Middletown University, Connecticut, eleven inches. Of reflectors, the one constructed by the Earl of Rosse, at Parsontown, Ireland, has a mirror six feet in diameter; the Observatory of Melbourne, Australia, four feet; and Mr. S. Lassell, Marblehead, England, two feet in diameter.

THE SUN

During this month makes us his shortest visit. This he does on the 21st, making his stay about 9h. 16m. in length. Winter begins theoretically the same day at 4:51 a. m., when the sun stands still before he starts on his northern journey, and the astronomers say that the sun enters _Libra_. On the 24th at 2:00 p. m., sun is 90° east of Uranus, that is, is quartile with this planet; on the 12th, at 2:00 a. m., he is 180° from Jupiter, that is, in opposition; on the 31st, at 11:00 p. m., nearest the earth; on the 1st, 16th and 30th he rises at 7:05, 7:18 and 7:24 a. m., and sets at 4:34, 4:35 and 4:44 p. m., respectively. Twilight ends on the 16th at 6:17 p. m.

THE MOON

Presents the ordinary phenomena of its changes as follows: Full on the 2d, at 1:51 p. m.; last quarter on the 9th, at 6:22 a. m.; new on the 17th, at 8:16 a. m.; first quarter on the 25th, at 8:13 a. m. It rises on the 15th, at 6:08 a. m., and sets on the 1st and 30th, at 5:21 a. m. and 5:13 a. m. respectively. Is nearest the earth on the 2d, at 9:30 p. m., and again on the 31st, at 10:48 a. m. Is farthest away from the earth on the 16th, at 11:06 p. m. Runs highest on the 4th, on which date its altitude equals 68° 1′ 33″; and on the 31st, when its altitude amounts to 68° 1′ 56″. It runs lowest on the 17th, when the elevation is 30° 56′ 19″ in latitude 41° 30′ north.

MERCURY

Presents us this month with an unusual number of phenomena, none of which, however, are of a striking character. He rises on the 1st at 8:28 a. m.; on the 16th, at 8:55 a. m.; on the 31st, at 7:48 a. m.; sets on the corresponding days at 5:16, 5:53 and 5:20 p. m.; that is, during the entire month setting from one-half hour to one and one-third hours later than the sun; and thus being visible to a careful observer for perhaps ten or twelve days both before and after the 17th, the day on which he reaches his greatest distance (20° 12′) east of the sun. His motion during the first seventeen days is 30° 33′ 44″ direct, and for the remaining fourteen 5° 9′ 55.5″ retrograde. Diameter increases from 5.2″ to 9.6″. At 3:00 p. m. on the 4th he is 1° 26′ south of Mars; on the 19th, at 6:34 a. m., 6° 27′ south of the moon; on the 25th, at 10:00 a. m., stationary; at midnight on the 29th, 2° 25′ north of Mars; and on the 30th, at 5:00 a. m., reaches its nearest point to the sun.

VENUS

Is now on the wane, decreasing from 14.2″ to 12.4″ in diameter, though still an object of beauty in the morning sky. She rises at 4:03 a. m. on the 1st; at 4:36 a. m. on the 16th, and at 5:10 a. m. on the 31st. Her motion is direct and equals 38° 30′ of arc. On the 14th, at 4:37 a. m., she is 1° 15′ south of the moon.

MARS

Makes a very poor showing, his diameter being small, only about 4.2″, and his rising and setting nearly the same as that of the sun. At 8:35 a. m. he rises and at 5:33 p. m. sets on the 1st; on the 16th, rises at 8:25 a. m., and sets at 5:25 p. m.; and on the 31st, rises at 8:11 a. m., and sets at 5:21 p. m., remaining above the horizon on an average of about nine hours each day. His motion is direct and amounts to 25° 57′ of arc. On the 18th, at 1:35 p. m., he is 5° 59′ south of the moon. His declination on the 1st is 24° 17′ south, and on the 31st, 22° 58′ south.

JUPITER

Is morning star throughout the month, rising November 30th at 11:07 p. m., and setting December 1st, at 12:19 p. m.; on the 15th, rising at 10:10 p. m.; setting next day at 11:22 a. m.; and on the 30th rising at 9:10 p. m., and setting on the 31st at 10:23 a. m. Direct motion 31′ 39″; retrograde motion 12′ 22″. Diameter increases from 36.2″ to 39.6″. On the 8th, at 10:52 a. m., 4° 10′ north of the moon; about midnight on the 20th, stationary.

SATURN

During the former part of the month will be a morning star, but during the latter and greater part an evening star, though shining during most of the night time. He rises on the 1st at 5:19 p. m., and sets on the 2d at 7:57 a. m.; rises on the 16th at 4:14 p. m., and sets on the 17th at 6:52 a. m.; rises on the 31st at 3:11 p. m., and sets on the first day of the new year at 5:47 a. m. His motion, 2° 39′ 15″ of arc, is retrograde; and his diameter diminishes about two-tenths of a second of arc. On the 3d, at 5:48 a. m., 3° 15′ north of the moon; on the 12th, at 2:00 a. m., 180° west of the sun; and on the 30th, at 1:48 p. m., 3° 16′ north of the moon. As mentioned in a former number of THE CHAUTAUQUAN, from this time for several months will be the most favorable for seeing the rings (the “handles” of the seventeenth century) of this planet.

URANUS

Has a direct motion of 35′ 1″ of arc during the month, and its diameter increases two-tenths of a second. On the 10th it will be found, at 11:08 a. m., 1° 37′ north of the moon; and on the 24th, at about 2:00 p. m., 90° west of the sun. It will also appear as an evening star, rising at 1:28 a. m., and setting at 1:26 p. m. on the 1st; rising at 12:30 a. m., and setting at 12:28 p. m. on the 16th; and rising at 11:33 p. m. on 30th, and setting at 11:39 a. m. on 31st.

NEPTUNE.

“Distance lends enchantment to the view.” Our imagination may readily picture a huge ball having a diameter of 34,500 miles, and a density of 1.15 times that of water, at a distance of 2,775 millions of miles from the sun, and making its way around it in a period of about 165 years, at the rate of about 3.36 miles per second; but methinks most of us would prefer to remain where we are rather than migrate to a “land of liquids” and spend our lives in swimming through oceans of liquefaction. Neptune rises on the 1st at 3:34 p. m., and sets on the 2d at 5:30 a. m.; rises on the 16th at 2:35 p. m., sets on the 17th at 4:29 a. m.; rises on the 31st at 1:35 p. m., sets on January 1st at 3:29 a. m. Retrogrades 40′ 35″ of arc. Diameter, 2.6″.

THE LIBERAL UPHEAVAL IN NORWAY.

BY BISHOP JOHN F. HURST.

In no European country has there been, in the last half century, such a thorough coming up of liberal sentiment concerning all that regards the rights of the citizen and the Christian as in Norway. Lying at the northwest corner of the continent, far removed from the excitements and jealousies common to the nervous central countries, Norway has moved on in its even way, and cared little for the general current of these lands. But these Norwegians have not been asleep. Nor has there ever been a time when they have slept, from the hazardous day when their Vikings invaded Britain, and became forever a part of the bone and fiber of Scotland in eastern England, down to our century. All Norwegian history is a romance, whether in former or recent times. The unexpected change happens on those mountain sides and in those happy valleys, and when a new movement does begin there it is apt to overthrow the whole of Scandinavia. Norwegian impulses, as a rule, have such abundant vitality in them that no resistance can be made successfully against them. They are as invincible with their new liberal policy, in state and church, as was their Harold the Fair-Haired, who fought and slew twenty-two hostile kings of Norway, in the one battle of Stavenger, and made the land first and for the whole future one and strong, and then took for his queen the fair lady who had declared she would never marry him until he became king of United Norway. He laid deep plans, and then both wise and believing, waited ten long years, and so came the Norway of to-day, stretching from North Cape down to Land’s Nose.

Here is an instance of the old and the anticipated never taking place in Norway. When the country separated from Denmark in the year 1814, and became consolidated with Sweden, it produced its own constitution, and has ever since been independent of either Scandinavian country, and produces all the liberal political and ecclesiastical sentiment in northern Europe, so far as the continent is concerned. But Norway has the same king as Sweden, and the two constitute the kingdom of Sweden and Norway. There is, however, nowhere a parallel to their internal arrangements. While the countries are one, there is a broad strip of felled forest, or open land, which marks the boundary line between them. They have two different postal systems, and two classes of postage stamps. The crowning of the king in Stockholm does not make him king of Norway. He must go five hundred and twenty-seven miles northwest, and be crowned in the cathedral of the ancient capital of Norway, Trondhjem, and be blest by Norwegian clerical hands, and benedictions rung out by Norwegian bells, before he is king of Norway. Then, too, he must have not only a Swedish cabinet and court, resident in Stockholm, and his two houses of Parliament as well, but must have the same double headed arrangement in Christiania, the capital of Norway. He must have his palace and court, his upper and lower houses of Parliament, and his Ministry. Sweden can not make a law for Norway, nor the latter for the former. The king has two sets of men for everything, and unlike most kings, has duplicate critics on every question of royal action.

The Norwegian Parliament, or Storthing, has always been a troublesome thing to handle, by both kings and nobility. It is made up of rich and poor alike—all men who prove themselves worthy of the popular confidence. Until 1869 it met only triennially, and as soon as it had fought a few months for the people it could say no more for so long a time that there was ample opportunity for its legislation to be half forgotten, and, where there was a will, to be often evaded. But so rapidly did the liberal sentiment grow throughout the land that a law was at last made requiring the Storthing to meet annually. This was the fatal day for the rule of the aristocratic and bureaucratic spirit in Norway. When, in 1869, for the first time, the parliament of the country found itself compelled to come together every year, to revise the affairs of the country, it began a series of legislative acts which covered all the great and overlooked needs of the people, and, without treading upon the authority of the throne, did pursue such a course as the kings had been accustomed to think belonged only to them. In 1872 the Storthing went so far as to order that the king’s ministers, who hitherto had been shut out from all participation in the proceedings of both houses, might appear, and in case of need must appear, and give all needful information concerning the points at any time under discussion. They must be “interpellated” without let or hindrance, and in this way be held responsible to the popular representations. But the king would not sign this law. His ministers were antideluvian and conservative, and strongly advised him not to do it. The Storthing could do nothing. Here was a violent clash between the people and the throne, and the relation was strained more violently than at any other time in the last thirty years. The fact is, the people had waked up, and were moving on. The Storthing adjourned, and the members went home.

Now began a strong current of liberal sentiment, which overspread the entire country. In five years, or by 1877, there was such a liberal Storthing in session that the law requiring the ministry to appear in person and give account of their discharge of official duty, was again passed, with an overwhelming majority. But the king and his ministry refused again to favor it. The royal signature was withheld, and so the law remained a dead letter. The same thing took place in 1879. The same refusal knocked it to pieces. In 1882 matters began to culminate. The Storthing passed the same law, by a vote of one hundred and five to eight, and determined to see it signed and executed. The king lost all patience. His ministers advised him not only not to sign it, but to veto it. This they supported, as his right, by a false interpretation of an article of the constitution. The Law Faculty of the University of Christiania indorsed the veto as constitutional, and so for the moment things seemed to be settled. Here was a case, however, where the people stepped in, and formed themselves masters of the king and his willing instruments. The next Storthing boldly declared that the new law was valid, with or without the king’s sanction, that he had no right to absolute veto at all, and demanded the government to promulgate the new law without ceremony, as a part of the laws of the land. This the ministers refused to do. This procedure, with several other unconstitutional acts, caused the Odelsthing, or select body of the Storthing, to remove the ministers before the Rigsret, which is the supreme court. From August 1883 until January 1884 the court deliberated on the case, and at last pronounced its verdict. We venture to say that no such excitement has been seen in Norway since it dropped off from Danish rule. By this verdict the entire ministry, including the prime minister, Selmer, were declared to have forfeited their right to be royal advisers, and two of the number were fined eight thousand crowns, as penalty for disobeying the laws.

The king still hesitated. He claimed that he had the right of veto, and was going to exercise it. The old and impeached ministry went out, of course, but the new one was a question. He chose, as his next ministry, the same kind of men he had been having. They were known in the country as enemies of the people’s rights, and the storm of indignation was violent throughout the country. In this chaotic condition, Sweden came in with its advice. The ministers over in Stockholm saw that there was danger of losing Norway entirely, and they plainly told the king that he must make peace there at all hazards. The king now looked at the status of things with great care, and seems to have feared for his crown. He turned suddenly about, and chose a new ministry, with the renowned liberal leader, Johan Sverdrup, as his premier. For thirty-three years this man had been an advocate of the people’s rights, and during all that time had been a member of the Storthing. He was known in every valley and on every mountain in the land of the midnight sun, as the one man who could be trusted to defend the poor and fight for the largest liberty to every one. He had been for at least a quarter of a century the most powerful man of the country. He was feared and hated by every despotic and aristocratic spirit in the land, and not one even dared to attack his patriotism and honor. That King Oscar should choose Sverdrup as his prime minister was infinitely more of a revolution than when Queen Victoria took Gladstone in place of Beaconsfield, to select a new ministry and preside over it.

The changes consequent upon this new and happy resolution of the king to make peace with the liberals, have been complete, and of great numbers. The question of the king’s veto of a law passed by the Storthing is settled forever. He can not do it. The Storthing is king, in fact. No sooner were the new ministry in power than they appeared in Parliament, took part in all debates, answered all questions concerning the policy of the government, and, to cap the climax, enlarged the right of suffrage to such an extent that forty thousand citizens could participate in all the canonical and political elections, for the first time. As to the work done, the Storthing now did more business in one week than had been done in months before.

This change in the political structure of Norway is the most significant event in Scandinavian history since 1814. It not only covers the past, but promises grandly for the future, to see the coming of the people to the front, in the land of our old Norse ancestors. And we may depend upon it that in Norway there will be no going backward. The king has had a hard task, but when the critical hour came, he chose discretion and the interests of the people. This assertion by the people, that they are supreme, means more than merely political liberation. It means that the day is not far distant when the Norwegian state church will be placed away among the rest of the useless antiquities.

HOW TO HELP THE C. L. S. C.

BY CHANCELLOR J. H. VINCENT, D.D.

The C. L. S. C. is an institution. It has an aim, a plan, an organization, officers and members. It began, has grown, and will continue to grow. The ends it proposes are useful and much needed. They lay hold of personal character. They reach society in the family, in the community, in the church. They are ends intellectual, moral, domestic, social, and religious. Every reason that can be urged in favor of general education, of refined manners, of cultivated tastes, of religious principles, of personal influence in favor of the true, the beautiful and the good, may be presented in behalf of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. Its enthusiastic alumni, its undergraduates and outside persons of sound judgment who have studied its philosophy and watched its progress have said many strong and beautiful things in commendation of it. And there is no danger of saying too much, for however crude the beginnings of the movement, one may easily see in it the most splendid possibilities. The universal praise which the scheme has elicited is all deserved. The C. L. S. C. is a great institution.

But it must be remembered that institutions, however lofty in purpose and practical in organization, can not grow or work by virtue of mere aim and plan. Ideals and artistic apparatus are essential, but without personal genius and labor are impotent in the world of art. Something more is necessary to a transatlantic passage than a dock at Liverpool and a seaworthy steamer in New York. Between the two lie the conditions of success in human enterprise and effort. The C. L. S. C. needs appreciation as a scheme, but it needs also work—wise, unremitting, indefatigable work, on the part of those who believe in it.

The problem before us now is: How may we help the C. L. S. C.? Every member who receives benefit from it, and who believes in its value to others, may become an advocate and representative and thus may induce numbers to test its worth. This service, voluntary and uncompensated, is due to the Circle. I propose to show how it may be most effectively rendered.

1. There are multitudes of people who would welcome the C. L. S. C. as an angel of strength and comfort, if its existence were but made known to them. They have no definite idea about it. The mystic letters which represent it they have often seen, but having “no interest in secret societies” have not even asked what the C. L. S. C. is. They have seen the word “Chautauqua,” and know that Chautauqua County is famous “for butter and for Republican majorities.” Or they have heard about a “camp meeting at Chautauqua,” which being a camp meeting must of course be Methodist—and in “Methodist camp meetings they have never taken much interest”—indeed, they have a “prejudice against such things.” As for a “Sunday-school Assembly” at Chautauqua, if they do not think of it as “a big picnic with lots of children and barrels of peanuts,” they class it among “the pious conventions which only very good people care to attend.” Thus the widespread name of Chautauqua means half a dozen different things, according to the measure of the hearer’s ignorance. Now, members of the C. L. S. C. can do a world of good to people who would welcome and enter the Circle if they knew about it, by telling of its aims to persons whom they casually meet, by distributing the “Popular Educational Circular,” and by handing out judiciously copies of “The Green Book.” Thus they could soon disabuse minds which hold the superficial views of the movement above indicated and convince them that Chautauqua is not merely a “creamery,” that it is not a camp meeting, that it is not Methodist, that it is not a children’s or Sunday-school picnic at all, that Sunday-school work has a place, but a comparatively small place in the great Chautauqua Idea and movement, and that Chautauqua is CHAUTAUQUA—peculiar, instructive, broad, far-reaching—a place and an idea, a school and a society, a life and a power, representing all that is high in human aims, all that is delightful in human fellowship, all that is ennobling in broadest culture, all that is sanctifying in intelligent and reverent worship. A few words would do all this, for hosts of people who need and long for the very ministry our noble cause fulfills. Speak the words, then, dear fellow students, and distribute widely the circulars which spread this information.

2. Having sown the seed watch the growth. Urge the friend to whom you broach the subject to join the Circle. Take his or her name and address; a postal card later on may be a reminder. Insist upon prompt action in sending for blank form of application. Elicit questions. Remove difficulties. Answer objections. Be earnest and urgent, and from the seed by the wayside may come up quite a harvest of good. You can not be too urgent or emphatic. The cause and the institution justify your zeal, and those whom you win to the experiment will soon give it unequivocal indorsement, and will add a vote of thanks, for your suggestion and importunacy. Personal interest in people always pays. In a good work this interest yields the best results. And this is a good work. The young man you follow up with circulars and solicitations and offers of help will finally yield through your very earnestness in his behalf. And the more you help, the more zeal in the cause of the C. L. S. C. you will develop in him. The discouraged woman to whom the world of letters seems as inaccessible as the royal palace at Windsor, will believe your testimony because of the faith and fervor you show, and having had the door opened to her will enter in, and at every step will give thanks for what she finds, and for the thoughtful, sympathetic soul that pointed her to Temple of Knowledge.

3. Use the local press in the interest of the Circle. The columns of any paper in the land will be open to occasional items concerning the Chautauqua movement and its courses of reading. Editors who want news will be glad to receive your communications. Editors who believe in popular education will take a personal interest in the matter. They will cheerfully write editorials on some phases of the subject. They will report meetings of your local circle. They will publish choice literary extracts in the line of the current required reading. Suppose the subject for the month is Greek history and literature. Find some gem from the critics, some exquisite translation of a passage from Homer, Plato or Æschylus, some word-picture from the historians or from modern travelers; copy carefully, send to the editor, and ask its publication, and you will be surprised to find how glad editors will be to enrich their pages through your skill, taste and services. Every such item of news or passage from literature, if connected with Chautauqua or the C. L. S. C. will advertise the Circle and increase its membership.

4. Use the public schools. Secure the coöperation of teachers, especially high school principals and superintendents. Do not try to induce pupils to join the Circle. They have enough to do already, at school and at home. But watch the high school graduates, and those young people dropping out of the various grades, “giving up school,” as so many thousands do. Talk to them about what the C. L. S. C. will do for them. Tell them all about the “college outlook,” the “diploma,” the “seals,” the “societies,” and “degrees.” Urge them to enter this “Home College.” Press upon them the advantages. And if the arguments you present be so strong as to determine them not to give up school, but to keep on and enter college, you can afford to excuse them from entering the C. L. S. C. for this is the highest end of our Circle: To awaken an interest in college education, and to induce young people to secure it. Do not be disheartened if now and then a public school superintendent or teacher looks disapprovingly or with a faint touch of scorn on the C. L. S. C. It will be because he does not understand it. No scholar of a high order, who knows what we aim at and are doing, can disapprove the movement. He may object to this book or that. About what book are there no differences of opinion? He may find fault with the relative proportions of literature and science in our course. All curriculums are subjected to such criticisms. He may smile at our desires for promoting the _esprit de corps_. College societies, college athletics, college exhibitions have been often severely denounced as puerile, dissipating, and all that. And one has read college songs that have not been wholly weighted with wisdom or composed in conformity with highest rhetorical standards. No wise teacher can afford to sneer at the C. L. S. C. The most eminent educators of the country are in sympathy with it. Give your public school teachers a knowledge of the system and they will coöperate with you in the promotion of its interests.

5. Get the college men of your place enlisted. They are bound to help it. The C. L. S. C. is among all the educational movements of the age the best friend of the college system. It is a John-the-Baptist, going in advance and preparing the way in a wilderness-age of mercenary ambition, and among masses of people apathetic concerning especially the higher education. It goes into a household and captures parents while the children are yet young or unborn. It gives intellectual hope, confidence and ambition to those full grown men and women who supposed having left school their education had been finished. It gives them a new world to live in, a world of good books, a world of high art, a world of refined society. And into this world the children are born, and in this world they are trained, and because of this larger, nobler world they go to college. What put those better books and better pictures into the home? The C. L. S. C. What inspired the literary ambition in these mature people? The C. L. S. C. What filled the house with college atmosphere and college longings? The C. L. S. C. What led the mother to say and sing over and over again to the smiling infant in her arms, “My darling is going to college one of these days?” The C. L. S. C. If any people on the continent should honor and further the C. L. S. C. it is the college people, and as they learn its work they see its worth and give it sympathy and help. Our most enthusiastic friends are college presidents and professors.

Therefore make a point of enlisting college people in the enterprise. They will be glad to join. It will do them good after these years of neglect to read up Greek-in-English with Dr. Wilkinson, or to have Professor Appleton and Dr. Edwards tell them in their clear way what additions have been made to the science of chemistry since it was studied in the old college laboratory. There is not a subject or a book in the C. L. S. C. course that it would not pay any college graduate to read over again. And the really wise ones among them will do it. We have thousands of college graduates on the record lists of the Circle.

Where these men and women may not care to join for their own sakes they may be induced to give _prestige_ to the movement for the sake of others. This is a power they have. They may well be proud of it; and if by putting themselves side by side with less favored people as fellow-students, they can help without seeming to do it, they may add to the influence and profit of the Circle. Stir up and use the college people.

6. And now for the ministers! No class has greater influence in matters pertaining to education. To hear some wiseacres talk one would suppose that churches and ministers were afraid of education. The fact is that both popular and higher education owes more to the church than to any other organization on earth, and college presidents and professors have for the most part been clergymen or active laymen ready for Christian service. The most efficient factor in the educational movements of the world is Christianity.

The ministers are able to do more for the C. L. S. C. than any other class. They have influence over the homes, and especially over the youth of their congregations. If they do not it is their own fault; and I have sometimes felt that the Chautauqua plan was a providential appliance adapted to the age, by which pastors may secure a firmer hold upon the young people, and keep them in more perfect sympathy with the social and spiritual ideas which it is the business of the church to set forth. What intellectual dissipation and what moral weakening follow the loose reading habits of the age! How can a minister of Christ bring people to an appreciation of stability, purity, thoughtfulness, by sermons on one day of the week while all the other days are filled (what time is left from business) with sensational and demoralizing stories, unreal in their pictures of life and fearfully false in the ethical and theological principles they embody? How can a minister train his people to solidity and self-sacrifice and spirituality, whose highest ideas of “society” are expressed in the sensuous and dangerous pleasures in which a frivolous world delights, and which by its consciousless requirements are made “fashionable?” Priestly prohibition is worthless. Bitter denunciation is worse. Appeals to higher tastes are useless—while the higher taste is lacking. There is only one way out of the difficulty. It is by “the expulsive power of a new affection.” To learn to loathe the low, one must learn to love the high and holy. To banish bad books we must create a delight in good books. To make worldly society seem the sensuous and senseless thing it often is, we must create a taste for refined, elevating and rational society. To put dignity and stability into a life we must feed it on truth, and cause it to delight in serving others. The C. L. S. C. is the pastor’s helper in all these lines. It puts good books into the hands of youth and age. It opens broad fields for exploration. It discovers and develops personal aptitude. It gives high ambitions. It makes conversation with rational and cultivated people more agreeable than frivolous amusements which have neither ideas nor useful inspiration in them. It quickens conscience. It gives dignity to life. It makes usefulness more desirable than self-gratification. It supplements Sunday aspiration by week-day effort, and increases the power—intellectual, social and spiritual—of every life and of every home into which it comes. All this our ministers should feel. If they knew they would feel. Then cause them to know. By talk and by circulars stir them up.

When new tastes are developed among their young people, tastes sanctified by prayer and fostered by lectures and lessons, and books and conversation, the ministers seeing the good work will appreciate the agency, and thank you for calling their attention to the C. L. S. C.

These are some of the radical ways of helping the C. L. S. C.

OUTLINE OF REQUIRED READINGS.

DECEMBER, 1884.

_First Week_ (ending December 8).—1. “Preparatory Greek Course in English,” from page 172 to 192.

2. “History of Cyrus,” from page 1 to 144.

3. “What English Is,” in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

4. Sunday Readings for December 7, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

* * * * *

_Second Week_ (ending December 15).—1. “Preparatory Greek Course in English,” from page 192 to 210.

2. “History of Cyrus,” from page 144 to 289.

3. “Readings in Kitchen Science and Art,” and “Glimpses of Ancient Greek Life,” in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

4. Sunday Readings for December 14, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

* * * * *

_Third Week_ (ending December 22).—1. “Preparatory Greek Course in English,” from page 211 to 232.

2. “History of Alexander,” from page 1 to 168.

3. “Readings in Chemistry” and “Temperance Teachings of Science” in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

4. Sunday Readings for December 21, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

* * * * *

_Fourth Week_ (ending December 31).—1. “Preparatory Greek Course in English,” from page 233 to 278.

2. “History of Alexander,” from page 169 to 278.

3. “Greek Mythology,” in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

4. Sunday Readings for December 28, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

PROGRAMS FOR LOCAL CIRCLE WORK.

MILTON’S DAY—DECEMBER 9.

“Truth is as impossible to be soiled by any outward touch as the sunbeam.”

Music.

Roll-call—Responses by quotations from Milton.

1. Essay—A Brief Sketch of the Life of Milton.

2. Recitation—Sonnet on his own Blindness.

3. Review of Milton’s Works.

[A brief outline of his principal works in both prose and poetry, including “Areopagitica,” “L’Allegro,” “Il Penseroso,” “Comus,” “Lycidas,” “Paradise Lost,” “Paradise Regained,” “Samson Agonistes,” given by different members of the circle, each member taking up only one production, and giving explanation and derivation of the name if necessary. In this way the whole class could acquire a good general idea of the field covered by Milton’s works. Each one might be provided with a note-book and take down leading items as the others read.]

Music.

4. Essay—Milton’s “History as connected with the Commonwealth and the Restoration.”

Selections from Taine on Milton’s “Adam and Eve.” See reference given.

[These selections will afford amusement, and add spice to the entertainment.]

Additional subjects for essays: Milton’s Early Home, Milton’s Daughters, Milton’s Wives, Milton on Divorce, Mary Milton, The Character of Milton, Milton’s Times.

The following references will be found useful in gathering materials for essays: “English Literature,” H. A. Taine, Vol. ii, page 240; the same, Vol. iii, page 249; Prose Writings, Vol. vi, p. 257; “Lives of Poets of Great Britain and Ireland,” by Dr. Sam Johnson, p. 1; “Modern British Essayists,” “Macaulay’s Miscellanies;” the same, “Milton and Cowley,” p. 116; Addison’s Works, Vol. i, p. 143, a poetical criticism; Addison’s Works, Vol. i, p. 39, Milton’s style imitated; Addison’s Works, Vol. vi, p. 168, admirable notice; “Life and Poetical Works of Milton,” published by Gregg, Philadelphia, Vol. ii; “English Literature,” by G. L. Craik, LL.D., Scribner, New York; “Chambers’s English Literature,” Vol. i, p. 396; _Christian Examiner_, Vol. iii, p. 29; _American Church Repository_, Vol. ii, p. 153; _Contemporary Review_, Vol. xxii, p. 427; _Littel’s Living Age_, Vol. cli, p. 323; _Unitarian Review_, Vol. xiv, p. 12; _Western Review_, Vol. v, p. 107; _Potter’s American Monthly_, Vol. xiii, p. 45; _National Review_, Vol. ix, p. 150; _Congregational Magazine_, Vol. xvi, p. 193; “Land We Love,” Vol. ii, p. 445; “Land We Love,” Vol. iii, p. 38; _American Quarterly Observer_, Vol. i, p. 115; _American Quarterly Review_, Vol. v, p. 301; _United States Literary Gazette_, Vol. iv, p. 278; _Colburn’s New Monthly Magazine_, Vol. cliii, p. 27; _Analytical Magazine_, Vol. xiv, p. 224; _Penny Magazine_, Vol. x, p. 97.

SECOND WEEK IN DECEMBER.

Music.

1. Quiz on the Readings of the Week.

2. Recitation.

3. Essay—The Character of Cyrus.

Music.

4. Reading.

5. Essay—What English Is.

6. Fifteen minute talk on Topics of the Times.

Social Converse.

THIRD WEEK IN DECEMBER.

1. Roll-call—Quotations from Readings of the Month.

2. Essay—Demosthenes.

3. Reading—Selections from the Philippics.

Intermission.

4. Essay—The Effects of Intemperance.

5. Reading—Greek Home Life.

6. Experiments in Chemistry.

MONTHLY PUBLIC MEETING.

Music—Chautauqua Song.

Roll-call—With Responses from Milton.

Introduction of New Members.

1. Quiz on the Month’s Readings.

2. Essay—The Story of Ulysses.

3. Recitation—From the Iliad.

Music.

4. Essay—Our Native Tongue.

5. Recitation—From Il Penseroso.

6. Chemical Experiments.

7. Discussion—How can we improve our Circle and extend the C. L. S. C.?

HOW TO ORGANIZE A LOCAL CIRCLE.

BY REV. J. L. HURLBUT, D.D.

1. The first step is for somebody to get thoroughly saturated with the Chautauqua Idea, either at “the Mecca of us all,” or some other Assembly, or by coming into contact with a live Chautauquan. Find out what the C. L. S. C. is, what it aims to do, and what it has already done in lifting up and inspiring people. Chautauqua Hand-book No. 2 will tell you something about its history and methods, and the C. L. S. C. number of the _Assembly Herald_ will shed more light in the address of Dr. Vincent which it contains. But if you can get hold of the button hole of an intelligent leader of a local circle, in half an hour you can learn more of the working of the organization, than in a half-day of reading about it.

2. The next step is to awaken the interest of others in the subject. Talk about it in social conversation, especially with the busy people, who feel their need of just what the C. L. S. C. offers, an inspiration to and a helping hand in reading and thought. Send to the general office for a number of copies of the circular on “Popular Education,” and distribute them where they will be appreciated and read. Let the Sunday-school teacher talk to his Bible class, the Superintendent to his school, the pastor to his congregation. Write an article for the village paper about the good work of the circle among the people. Secure the coöperation of the intelligent people in the community, the doctor, the lawyer, the editor, the principal and teachers of the public school, and let the town be awakened on the subject of the People’s College. If these educated leaders fail to take interest, do not be discouraged, but go on and get up the circle among the few who will be aroused. We know of a place where the first circle consisted of six members; and now there are two hundred readers of the course in that city.

3. Bring together those interested in the subject to hold a meeting for the organization of a local circle. Do not limit the constituency to any one social grade. It will do good to both the banker and the plumber’s apprentice, the society lady and the dressmaker, to meet on the common platform of an interest in one subject of thought. If the circle be started under the auspices of a church, make room for members from other churches, for it does Christians good to look each other in the face and study together. The best place for the meeting is the big parlors of some warm-hearted householder who is in sympathy with the enterprise, and the closer the crowd the better the feeling is apt to be. Have on hand some Chautauqua Songs, and learn a few of the best. Shake hands all around, and try to make people acquainted.

4. At the meeting show a set of the books for the year’s reading, and set forth the plan of the C. L. S. C. Then distribute the copies of the application blanks, and proclaim a recess, during which time the names of members will be received by a Secretary _pro tem._ [Obtain the blanks in advance of the meeting from the general office at Plainfield, N. J.] Two conditions of membership, in my judgment, should be named. First, that every member of the local circle should also be a member of the general C. L. S. C. “Associate members” have been the bane of many circles, for they are without responsibility; follow the course only so far as they feel an inclination, and are not true Chautauquans. You are uniting a company of people for a definite purpose of study, and no others should be admitted to membership. The second condition of membership should be, that each one joining shall take part as assigned in the meetings. If there is an implied distinction between members speaking and silent, between workers and listeners (who are apt to be critics), your circle will fail to accomplish its highest mission, to develop the dormant abilities of its members. The principles of the local circle should be “every student a member, and every member a worker,” and it will be far easier to establish these as conditions at the outset than to work up to them afterward.

5. The second meeting should consist of members only, and those who come for the purpose of becoming members. At this meeting it may be desirable to prepare a simple set of rules, though it is not necessary, and an elaborate constitution and by-laws have crushed to death many societies. The better way is to make rules as you need them, and to change them as circumstances may require. Let the leader or organizer bring to this meeting fifteen or twenty written or printed questions on the readings for the coming week or fortnight, and distribute them among the members, in alphabetical order of names, to be answered at the next meeting. A better plan, if practicable, is to print the program for the next meeting, with names of participants, by means of some duplicating process like the papyrograph or hektograph, and give a copy to each member. Assign your fifteen topics among the first fifteen names, so that all will be on an equality, but assign them with some regard to fitness, so that the most difficult question will not fall to the most untrained student.

6. The only officers needed are a president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer; and as everybody knows what their duties are it is not necessary to define them in a written constitution. Two committees may be chosen, each of which might consist of a single person. [Spurgeon says that the best committee consists of three, of whom one is sick and another out of town.] One committee to prepare the program of the meetings, another to provide music, either vocal or instrumental, to vary the exercises.

7. The mention of a treasurer suggests that there may be small expenses to the circle, for secretary’s book, postage, printing, etc. This may be obtained through voluntary contribution, through assessment, or through fines on absent members. In some circles it is obtained by making some person, generally the local bookseller, the agent to procure the books and receive subscriptions for the CHAUTAUQUAN. The members pay the agent the full price, of which he gives a certain percentage to the treasurer, thus supplying a fund upon which drafts may be made for necessary expenses.

These are our hints concerning organization. The local circle is now launched, and we give it the Chautauqua salute, wishing it a successful voyage.

THE LOCAL CIRCLE.

BY LEWIS C. PEAKE.

You say “There is no circle in my neighborhood.” It may be so, but if you want one you may have it. If you desire to form one in a church (and if every church had a circle connected with it, its power would be immeasurably increased), get, if possible, the coöperation of the pastor. If you fail to secure his active assistance, as you very likely may, he will be pretty sure to give you his moral support and good will, without which little can be done in connection with any church. If, however, he can see his way clear to active participation, so much the better for the circle, as well as for himself. He has made another bond between pastor and people. If the proposed circle be in connection with a Y. M. C. A., get hold of the general secretary in the same manner and for the same reason. Wherever it may be, get, if you can, by private effort, one or two persons (as many more as possible) interested in the movement. Then, as near the first of October as possible, call a meeting of all interested in mental and moral culture, old as well as young, explain the object and aim of the C. L. S. C.; have blank forms of application for membership, and get as many as possible committed to it there and then. As a rule there need never be a failure. A large membership is not essential to success; indeed, much of the most satisfactory work is done in small circles of from four to a dozen members. Many a family circle has been blessed by being formed into a C. L. and S. circle.

A good deal of the success of a circle depends upon the person chosen as leader, conductor, president, or whatever name may be given to the chief executive officer; hence the importance of the question, who should occupy this position? The president should be the best person in the circle, be he man or woman; one of admitted preëminence among the members; one who is sufficiently interested to undertake and persevere in the study for its own sake, either to benefit himself or to enable him to help others, and not simply to patronize the Circle. The C. L. S. C. neither asks nor accepts patronage from any. The president should be a man of good general information and common sense. One who knows how to express himself in good plain Saxon, and when to stop. One who is regular and punctual in his attendance. A good conversationalist. One who will diligently pursue the course of reading, so that he may be in a position to _lead_ the circle. If, in addition to these qualifications, he be a college trained man or a teacher, his power will be greatly enhanced. Get, if you can, one who through attendance at Chautauqua, has become thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the movement. Failing in this, do your best to induce him to go there next season.

Next to the office of president, that of secretary is the most important in the circle. So much of the working of the circle depends upon this officer, that it is not easy to attach too much importance to the selection of a suitable person for the position. The president and secretary usually constitute the cabinet of the circle, hence the need of a perfect understanding between them. To this end frequent and easy communication is desirable. The secretary should be one capable, not only of keeping a fair and accurate record of the membership and business of the circle, but of suggesting methods for increasing the membership, adding to the comfort and convenience of those attending the circle meetings, etc.; a wide awake person with a great deal of thought for others.

In conducting your local circle, do not seek to use any stereotyped plan. That which has proved the best for some circles may not be so well adapted to yours. Study your surrounding circumstances, the habits and employments of the members, etc. One of the most satisfactory meetings I have known was held during the study of Roman History. The general subject was divided into two parts—B. C. and A. D. Each of these was again divided into Internal and External history, the former treating of the intellectual growth, laws, literature, etc., and the latter, of the wars, conquests and extension of the empire. The subjects were apportioned to four members who each occupied ten minutes, and a general discussion ensued. Where the circle is located in the vicinity of an educational institution, advantage may frequently be taken of the learning and teaching ability of some of the professors, many of whom would gladly render assistance in the matter, by delivering a lecture or teaching a lesson upon certain subjects under consideration. To this willingness on the part of eminent specialists to communicate freely from their store of knowledge, I gladly bear testimony. Get the members to prepare brief papers or criticisms upon certain phases of the subjects under consideration. These might be anonymous, if by that means some timid ones might be drawn out. Begin and close promptly on time. Sing the Chautauqua songs and persevere until all can and do sing them.

A good deal of interest might be awakened in the C. L. S. C. by steady effort. Furnish the local press with interesting items, accounts of circle meetings, an occasional paper prepared and read before the circle, etc. Editors are not dull; they will soon come to see that so far from patronizing you, they are really your debtors, and will give all the aid you reasonably ask of them. An occasional article in the religious weeklies will do good service, and such articles, brief and well written, will almost always command insertion. By all means cultivate the press. Circulate the Popular Education circulars which, with forms of application, can be obtained in any quantities necessary from the head office. Send and give them to your friends. Talk about the circle. Be interested in it, and show that you are. Invite your friends occasionally to the circle meetings. The observance of the Memorial Days affords fine opportunities for introducing the work of the circle to persons who have not given much attention to it. Best of all is to induce your friends to spend a week or two at Chautauqua in August, where the animus of the movement may be seen and studied as it can be nowhere else. This plan seldom fails.

LOCAL CIRCLES.

C. L. S. C. MOTTOES.

“_We Study the Word and the Works of God._”—“_Let us keep our Heavenly Father in the Midst._”—“_Never be Discouraged._”

C. L. S. C. MEMORIAL DAYS.

1. OPENING DAY—October 1.

2. BRYANT DAY—November 3.

3. SPECIAL SUNDAY—November, second Sunday.

4. MILTON DAY—December 9.

5. COLLEGE DAY—January, last Thursday.

6. SPECIAL SUNDAY—February, second Sunday.

7. LONGFELLOW DAY—February 27.

8. SHAKSPERE DAY—April 23.

9. ADDISON DAY—May 1.

10. SPECIAL SUNDAY—May, second Sunday.

11. SPECIAL SUNDAY—July, second Sunday.

12. INAUGURATION DAY—August, first Saturday after first Tuesday; anniversary of C. L. S. C. at Chautauqua.

13. ST. PAUL’S DAY—August, second Saturday after first Tuesday; anniversary of the dedication of St. Paul’s Grove at Chautauqua.

14. COMMENCEMENT DAY—August, third Tuesday.

15. GARFIELD DAY—September 19.

* * * * *

The local circle keeps warm and vigorous through the year the spirit of the summer assemblies. Indeed, to the local circles we believe we are indebted for much of the enthusiasm of the summer meetings. Their students garner rich harvests of thought and feeling in the long months of study, and the assemblies are but the meeting places to compare work, rest weary brains, gather fresh zeal and plan new undertakings. They are becoming necessary elements in the work. Students are feeling we must have an assembly. If we can not go to Chautauqua, we must have a local meeting. This feeling is leading to a great multiplication of centers. One of the latest plans we have learned of from the Toronto _Globe_, which says in a recent issue: “For some months past a few gentlemen have been quietly working to secure the control of the beautiful Oak Grove on the banks of the Niagara River, above the town, and near the famous old Fort George, as an assembly ground to be affiliated with the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, and also for general Sunday-school and temperance work. A deputation waited on Chancellor Vincent recently, and secured his hearty consent to coöperate, as far as possible, and aid the work in the direction indicated.”

A new and delightful summer center for our work is promised by the active interest which the members of the local circle of OCEAN GROVE, N. J., are taking in extending their bounds. The circle is fortunate in having among its members Rev. J. L. Corning, director of the Department of History and Literature of Art in the Chautauqua University. Mr. Corning recently favored the circle with a most interesting article on the “Geography of Greece,” showing how the peculiar configuration of the country had helped in forming its military and political supremacy, and had aided in developing the national individuality. The outlook of the circle Mr. Corning gives in a recent letter to the _Ocean Grove Record_, in which he says: “The Ocean Grove local circle of the C. L. S. C. in its new organization is yet in its infancy, being only a few weeks old. But it has already proved its calling to a noble mission as auxiliary to every appliance of religious and moral influence which in some sense is peculiar to this place. A most fortunate circumstance for its prosperity is found in the active sympathy of the resident officers of the Camp-meeting Association. Those honored men already divine the good work which the new agency contemplates, and have enlisted in it their cordial coöperation. Especially favored is our youthful organization in having my most valued friend, Dr. Stokes, for its presiding officer. He will bring to this auxiliary mission the same high qualities of mind and heart which have marked his successful administration as a guiding spirit in the noble religious works of the association. The duty and privilege of securing personal membership in the Ocean Grove local circle of the C. L. S. C. can not be too strongly commended to the winter residents both of this and our neighboring town. To the young, especially, who need intelligent guidance, systematic habits and periodical inspiration in intellectual culture, this local organization will bring inestimable benefit. The Ocean Grove local circle of the C. L. S. C. is an organization with large possibilities before it. Its constituency need not necessarily be limited to the permanent residents of this highly favored locality, but may include as well, an unlimited auxiliary force from the thousands who gather on this hallowed spot during the summer. Upon the growth and work of this subsidiary organization will, in a great degree, depend the recognition which the great mother organization will have in the annual summer gatherings which have given Ocean Grove an enviable name all over our land.”

In connection with these projected assemblies we have the pleasure of giving our readers an account of a local assembly which held its first session last summer. When we reported in October the local summer assembly at Lake Grove, Auburn, Me., we were not aware that another similar assembly had been held within the boundaries of the same state. It is but recently that we have received the program of the Maine Chautauqua Assembly, the first session of which was held from July 23d to August 2d, at MARTHA’S GROVE, FRYEBURG, ME. The idea of a Maine Assembly originated with Mrs. Martha Nutter, a noble hearted woman of Cape Elizabeth, who wished to see the spread of the Chautauqua plan of study in Maine, and to have a permanent organization of the C. L. S. C. meeting once a year for a few days, something after the plan of the larger assemblies. At first it seemed that the movement would not be successful, but through the earnest efforts of Mrs. Nutter, assisted by Rev. John Collins, also of Cape Elizabeth, and Mrs. Stickney, of Brownfield, promises of lectures, readings, essays and music were obtained, programs were printed and sent out among the people. When the time appointed for the meeting arrived, July 28th, there was a goodly number of enthusiastic Chautauquans gathered at Martha’s Grove. The entire program was successfully carried out, and the meetings lasted throughout the week. During the meetings a regular organization was formed under the name of “The Maine Chautauqua Union,” officers were elected and a vote was passed to meet at the same time and place another year. No lovelier spot could be selected for such a gathering than Martha’s Grove. There is a large growth of elm trees, which furnish a delightful shade, while beneath is a carpet of green, where a speaker’s stand and seats are erected, and here are held nearly all the meetings. This grove borders on the Saco River, and just across its banks is obtained a lovely view of Mount Kearsarge, while other peaks of the White Mountain Range are seen in the distance. A pleasant drive of two miles, past flourishing farms and through the lovely village of Fryeburg, and the station on the P. & O. R. R. is reached.

Quite as unique and delightful, though less ambitious, was a gathering which assembled weekly during the past summer at the PROFILE HOUSE, far up among the FRANCONIA MOUNTAINS of NEW HAMPSHIRE. It was formed early in August, by six of the waitresses of the hotel. They held their meetings sometimes in the quiet forests, sometimes in their rooms, and spent the two lovely months of August and September reviewing the readings of the year. It must have been a beautiful, inspiring hour, to the members of the little circle, when they would lay aside their duties, and under the trees of those lovely mountains turn their thoughts to their books.

Even Chautauqua itself keeps the germ of its power aglow through all the fall, winter and spring, by a local circle. From this center of centers a friend writes us of the life and work that has taken the place of the summer’s study and enthusiasm. The pleasant letter gives a picture which our friends will enjoy, we believe, as well as we did. “You have seen a New England cellar banked up for winter? Then imagine the Amphitheater securely shut in by a five-foot tight board fence all round about. Something very precious must be stored there! Mayhap the seeds that shall next summer blossom into eloquence. Imagine all the Athenian watch-fire pillars, huddled into a corner of the Hall of Philosophy, like a shame-faced group of oriental women. Think of the Point, the docks, as absolutely silent; the lake without a sail, or even a row boat, save that of some solitary fisherman, drifting. Think of gathering nuts by the quart among the rustling leaves of the old Auditorium; of seeing the cottages stripped of their hand-painted decorations, ‘Boarding and Rooms.’ Two daily excitements still remain: the meatman’s bell each morning rings, and the stage brings the one bag of mail at noon. The crowds seemed loth to leave this year, but the lingerers left in a body, and silence seemed suddenly to fall upon the place. There is settled down for the winter a genial, social company of live people, and it is evident that soon there will not be evenings enough in the week in which to accomplish all the delightful things the weeks will bring to enjoy. Indeed, this seems to me in several senses, a remarkable, a model, community. All social life centers in the little chapel. Here an enthusiastic C. L. S. C. meets each Tuesday evening, and each Sabbath at the vesper hour, the bell, whose echoes reach so far, calls an earnest company to the dear old hall.”

Turning to our eastern circles, the first report of the month comes from the “Ashuelot” local circle of SWANZEY, N. H., which is still prospering, and has begun on its second year of work. “It is composed of thirteen regular members of the class of 1887, with eleven local members. Nearly all are diligent students and active workers. The Rev. Benjamin Merrill, one of the presidents of the New England class of ’87, is an enthusiastic Chautauquan and member of our local circle. Our meetings are opened with prayer, and often closed with a Chautauqua song. At the opening each member repeats a quotation, and waits for the class to name the author if they are able to do so. At each meeting a portion of the required reading is assigned to each member of the class, as a special lesson for the next succeeding meeting. Both the regular and the local members are expected to prepare condensed reviews of the topics thus allotted to them, which are usually recited from memory. In order to give time for questions and remarks, each of these reports is limited to five minutes. The subjects considered often call out animated discussions, which are conducted in a friendly, conversational manner. A critic is appointed by the president at each meeting, to notice errors in language, and report at the close. The meetings increase in interest, are instructive and entertaining, and the work done is thorough. We have been favored with some excellent essays and poems by members of the circle.”

October 1st is the anniversary day of the C. L. S. C. of FRANKLIN, MASS., and this year their second anniversary was observed in a manner highly creditable to the circle, as it was also enjoyable to their friends. The exercises were listened to by an audience of nearly six hundred people, fully one hundred and fifty of them being Chautauqua students. By a generous outlay of money the circle secured the services of talented musicians from Boston and vicinity. They were also fortunate in securing the Rev. J. L. Withrow, D.D., the eloquent preacher of Park Street Church, Boston, to deliver their Commencement address. The topic selected by this eminent speaker was “The Intellectual Signs of the Times.” It was a vigorous, instructive, and exceedingly entertaining address. The Franklin Circle has secured its publication in full, in the local paper of that town. A very interesting original poem, prepared for the occasion, was read by the author, the Rev. Wm. M. Thayer, of Franklin, the topic being “What is Thought?” The chapel was very beautifully decorated with the national colors, with deep-hued autumn leaves, and bouquets of choice flowers, arranged about the platform. The occasion was full of inspiration to the members and their friends, and opened in a very interesting manner the new year of the C. L. S. C. course. About twenty-five new members have enrolled themselves upon the books of this circle, as members of the class of ’88.

After the Assembly at South Framingham, an evening was spent in the church at WEST CHELMSFORD, MASS., on the Chautauqua Idea, the result of which was a local circle consisting of twelve members, nine of whom are regular members of C. L. S. C., of the class of ’88. All are enthusiastic over the studies. The circle meets twice a month, following somewhat the order of exercises suggested in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

We learn from the _Palladium_, of NEW HAVEN, CONN., that the first fall meeting of the “Woolsey” circle, composed of members of the “Pansy Class,” was held on the evening of October 15th. The members witnessed some very interesting experiments in chemistry by James D. Whitmore, of the high school. Mr. Whitmore expressed his hearty sympathy in the C. L. S. C. organization, and any similar movements calculated to elevate young or old in searching for knowledge. In a very pleasing way he made all who were present feel perfectly unrestrained, frequently requesting them to gather close around him and the table, that they might the more perfectly witness the results of his experiment. The “Woolsey” circle has now entered upon the second year of its course of reading, and has increased its membership from twenty-eight to forty-two.

A second local circle was organized in PAWTUCKET, R. I., on September 29th. It has taken the name of the “Pleasant View Local Circle,” and counts sixteen regular members, beside several “locals.” A report of methods, plans, and special work, we trust, will soon come from these new friends. They may be sure that they have a hearty welcome from all members of the C. L. S. C.

This fall, after three years of hard work in the C. L. S. C., the little circle of ladies at ONEIDA, N. Y., entered upon their senior year. During the past term of their reading they have held weekly meetings at the homes of the members, rarely in all this time missing an evening. These gatherings have been informal and home-like, but withal very thorough. Their plan has been to read aloud, criticising carefully every point in the reading—an excellent plan, and one which does much to make good the sentiment which they write us that they heartily believe in: “Trifles make perfection, but perfection is no trifle.” Lively discussions often arise over some point of their reading, and do much toward strengthening their interest. They report that during their course they have observed nearly all of the Memorial days—an excellent plan, and one which always compensates in the ideas and inspiration which it gives, for the extra work it may cause.

There is a circle at WELLSVILLE, N. Y., that has the rare honor of having been in successful operation since 1878. They have graduated members in the classes of ’82 and ’83, and now number nineteen members, representing each of the four classes. A friend writes of their last annual reunion: “The last of August we held our annual reunion, which has been usually held at the home of some member, but this year, as last, was made a surprise; we succeeded so perfectly in this as to have our coming only made known by our hearty singing of

“‘Hail the day with joy and singing, Swell the chorus, full and ringing, Love to Alma Mater bringing— All hail! C. L. S. C.’”

“Our repast was bountiful, and the decorations were worthy the loving hands that arranged them. We sat long at the table, and gave the time more to song and toast than to food. These reunions are so enjoyable that I think their fame is causing many in our town to feel that it would be very pleasant to be numbered with us. One of the ’82 graduates is pursuing his third year at Wesleyan University, and his presence at these reunions adds to our pleasure.”

From JOHNSTOWN, N. Y., the secretary writes us that on October 1st the circle was reorganized, and the officers for the year elected.

For two years the “Clinton” circle of NEWARK, N. J., has been quietly but seriously working. On the 14th of October it began its third year’s work. Of the plans which have governed them each year we have a brief outline: “We endeavor to amuse and profit ourselves by embracing as great a variety of general lines in our programs as possible; for example: Our first president, a C. L. S. C. graduate, made our meetings especially attractive by illustrating the lessons in geology with maps, engravings, fossils, ores, etc., and bringing ‘the heavens near by’ with blackboard and crayon. Our second year president fostered and developed the question-box idea, and encouraged the preparation of original papers. This year we hope to make famous with special exercises _in memoriam_, lectures, glees, quotations, and question matches.” At the meeting of the circle on October 30th, among other happily chosen exercises was a talk on “Europe” by a cultured traveler from their circle, who has lately returned from a trip abroad.

The chemistry in this year’s course is going to prove a most delightful part of the year’s reading, affording, as it does, such ample opportunity for interesting experiments. One of the first circles to report their work in this line is the “Parker Circle” of WASHINGTON, D. C., of which the _Evening Critic_ of that city says: “‘Parker Circle,’ C. L. S. C., has taken up the work of the year with increased vigor, the meetings being well attended and very interesting. A special meeting was held last evening at the residence of the president, A. P. Steward, to give opportunity to the members to witness some experiments in chemistry, a portion of the required reading of this year’s course being upon this interesting subject. The experiments were conducted by Mr. W. T. Criswell, chemist. Hydrogen and oxygen gases were successfully generated, hydrogen soap bubbles blown and then exploded by igniting them, recently extinguished tapers relighted by oxygen, sodium and potassium burned on water, arsenic and antimony tests made, etc., etc. Only one slight explosion occurred, which caused much amusement, but no harm resulted except to the test tube, which was blown to atoms.” The plan of the “Parker” circle in securing a practical chemist to conduct their experiments is wise. There is always more or less danger in operating with gases, and we earnestly recommend circles who wish to see these beautiful experiments to engage the services of some one skilled in laboratory work.

A neighbor to the “Parker” circle is the “Pansy” circle of our national capital. We have received from this circle a poem lately written in its honor, from which we extract the following verses:

Beside the lake, in simple grace, Alma Mater sits serene And gathers in her kind embrace The children she has never seen. Through the broad continent they dwell, Some, hungry minds, else unsupplied— Some, who have drawn from learning’s well But still would dip, unsatisfied. Anear or far, we feel her hand; Her guiding counsel shapes our “course,” Her sympathy unites our band; Hers the unseen cohesive force.

The “Circle’s” brightest Jewel, thou, Fair Mother! To whate’er thou bidst With prompt obedience we bow, But “Keep our Father in the Midst.” Here, on the Circle’s southern edge, Responsive to thy guiding nod, We, faithful to our earnest pledge “Study the Word and Works of God.”

We may not rise to eminence and fame, We may not win, but may deserve success; Beneath the shadow of an humble name, We may live on our little world to bless. As our bright pansy from its lowly stem Smiles almost human cheer to eyes that see, We’ll brighten each our little niche for them To whom it matters what our life should be. We’ll learn where hoarded gems of clearest ray Lie hidden close in pure and noble books And lead still other feet in learning’s way, To gather wealth in these rich-dowered nooks.

Not for ourselves alone we con our task; Chautauqua owns no selfish miser churl; Where her fair lake’s sun-lighted waters bask, True knowledge is no guarded, hidden pearl. We only hide the drudgery from view; To social cheer transform the study’s gloom; In mutual converse pierce the sunlight thro’ And cover sternest themes with Pansy bloom. Then rally round Chautauqua’s banner bright! And win to wisdom all who will be won! Still looking upward for the one Sure Light, True, loyal Pansies, turning to the Sun!

It is a great pleasure to hear from circles who have been steady workers for some time, but have never sent us reports. Such a bit of circle-history comes to us from ROOTSTOWN, OHIO. A friend writes: “We organized a circle October, 1882, with a membership of twenty, and surely a good report is due the circle for the two years’ work they have done. The benefit received has been many fold, the discipline obtained by having a certain course of reading to pursue has already been perceptibly felt. A taste for the better class of reading has been cultivated, and a feeling of sociability gained among the young people, brought about by common interests. As we are ready to start in with our third year’s reading, all our former members will not respond at roll-call. During last year, we, as a class, were very much bereaved by the loss of our former president, Mrs. H. O. Reed, who was untiring in her efforts to organize the circle here, and who happily presided over our meeting for the first year, always entertaining the class at her own home. She was the first of our number to pass through the ‘Golden Gate’ at Chautauqua, graduating August 1883. The following December, on Christmas day, her spirit passed through the ‘Golden Gate’ to join the great ‘Circle’ of the redeemed above. We have been so fortunate as to have three clergymen belonging to our order, one, who graduated with the class of ’84. Our regular meetings have been opened with singing, prayer, and scripture reading. The specified memorial meetings have generally been observed. The programs have been arranged by a committee, and have consisted of roll-call, responded to by quotations from authors specified, followed by articles prepared on topics connected with the subjects we were reading, after which a poem was generally read. The last hour we have devoted to miscellaneous topics and the questions in THE CHAUTAUQUAN. During the latter part of ’83 we had a Round-Table which we found very interesting.”

How many stories of wit and wisdom find their center at Chautauqua. One of the most entertaining we have seen comes from a member of the DETROIT, MICH., local circle, Mr. G. F. Beasley, a lawyer of that city, and bears the title of “John Scroggin’s First Visit at Chautauqua.” It is a bright and real description of the first visit of a farmer and his sturdy boys and girls to Chautauqua, of their funny mistakes, their gradual appreciation of the “Idea,” and finally their complete metamorphosis into typical Chautauquans; for at last

Farmer Scroggins was delighted When he saw, in one united, Sport and culture for the millions such as he, When he saw his children prying Into things he rarely scanned; When his house became a college Where his children gathered knowledge, And that books and apparatus were in very great demand.

Books were mingled with their pleasures, Curious eyes were open wide; Problems found a quick solution, Telling words found elocution, And they coaxed and coaxed and toasted him beside.

We should like to give all of the story, had we space, yet does not nearly every member of the C. L. S. C. know a John Scroggin who, under the influence of our magic _alma mater_, has seen “his house become a college?” It is, we believe, a familiar story not only in Detroit, but in Maine, California, and Texas.

There are two important circles in DETROIT. The “Pansy Circle,” of which Mr. J. W. Green, a graduate of ’83, is president, numbers twenty-seven members. They hold their meetings at the home of the president, meeting weekly on Monday evening. The president and his wife are very enthusiastic over the C. L. S. C., and are well adapted to fill the important offices to which their club has elected them. From the president of the “Central” C. L. S. C., of the same city, we have received a most entertaining record of the past year’s work. “The circle began the year of ’83 and ’84 with a membership of forty-eight. The first regular meeting was held at the Conservatory of Music, September 19, when the officers were elected. We now have enrolled the names of seventy paying members, twenty-six of whom are members of the general Circle. The circle has held forty-one regular meetings, two of which were spent in listening to very interesting lectures by Professor Winder. The evening of January 24 was spent debating the “Free Trade” question. February 21 Rev. Dr. Reilly lectured for the circle on “Christian Evidences Historically Considered.” May 29 the circle debated the “Indian Question.” During the year we have given four entertainments, and one reception. The latter was given in honor of Dr. Vincent, on September 24, at the residence of our president. The William Cullen Bryant Memorial Day was celebrated November 2, 1883. It was a very enjoyable entertainment, consisting of readings from Bryant, with music interspersed, followed by an elegant collation. The second Milton evening was spent very pleasantly at the home of our vice president. The C. L. S. C. met to celebrate Longfellow’s birthday. The program comprised readings, several tableaux and music, after which refreshments were served. The Shakspere entertainment, given at the Conservatory of Music, was one of the most pleasant of the series, many members were present, the selections were finely rendered, and the music was unusually good. The commencement exercises were held at Conservatory of Music, July 2. I will let the reports which were in the papers give you the description: ‘The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle closed their season last Wednesday evening at the Conservatory of Music. The attendance was large and the program one of unusual excellence. The “Class History,” by Mrs. Gillett, was a pleasant record of the doings of the society the past year, and was bright and well written. An address by T. D. Hawley, covering the existence of the circle, and a beautiful tribute to the late Mrs. Clark, the first president, was one of the noticeable features of the evening. A prophecy by Miss Todd was highly amusing and full of local hits. The music was especially good, both vocal and instrumental. A fantasie on the zither and violin by Mrs. Boyle and W. J. Kohlaas was rapturously received.’”

There is a great deal due to the president of a circle. An energetic president will make a live circle. We do not wonder that at PENDLETON, IND., the membership has increased twenty-five per cent., and that there was never such a manifestation of zeal and determination. Their president, Dr. A. S. Huston, puts life and skill into whatever he does. We hope to receive an extended report from Pendleton in the year.

No more systematic plan of work has come to our notice this year than that which we have received from the Alpha circle of QUINCY, ILL. This circle began its fall’s work by celebrating Garfield’s day; again on opening day, October 1, they met, elected officers and received new members. The circle, when reorganized, numbered about twenty-four members. They seem to have all the necessary elements for success—a large and live membership and an energetic president, of whom they write: “He is nothing less than a living library.” Their meetings are held each week. The weekly printed program cards contain the mottoes, the outline of study for each week, and the exercises which are arranged for each evening. We notice that they made the experiments in chemistry, and they write us that they had splendid success with them. The exercises are enlivened by music, and the Chautauqua songs stand prominent. The plan recommended in THE CHAUTAUQUAN for October—a pronouncing match on Greek names—was one of the features of a joint meeting of the Alpha and Beta circles on the last week of October; they write that it was hugely enjoyed. In order to help the participants in this “match” the back of the programs contained a key compiled for the Quincy circles, on how to pronounce classic names, giving rules for accent, syllabication, and sounds of the letters.

A friend who caught her inspiration for the C. L. S. C. work at Chautauqua itself, and who has induced several members to join the ranks, writes us of a new circle of eighteen members at TONICA, ILL. An excellent feature of this circle is that though three of its members are to graduate in ’86, while the remainder are all new members, yet there is a delightful spirit of unity in the work. All doing the same reading irrespective of class distinctions, makes the local circle possible, and promotes a fund of good feeling and coöperative study, otherwise impossible. The circle at Tonica has only just started, and, of course, as yet has no plan of work to report. No doubt, as is generally the case with our Illinois friends, they will soon send us accounts of happy plans and successful work.

The reports which MARSHALLTOWN, IOWA, send are frequent and always encouraging. The president writes: “Our circle would like to let the rest of the Chautauqua world know that we are still engaged in the good work. The ‘Alden’ circle, which met last year as two divisions of the same circle, this year adds twenty or more names to the class of ’88, and has organized as two separate circles. The evening circle retains the name of Alden. The new circle (formerly the afternoon division) has adopted the name of ‘Vincent,’ and has twenty-eight names recorded. The old members are glad vacation is over and the new ones take up the work with enthusiasm. October 14 the two circles celebrated the beginning of a new Chautauqua year by a grand banquet, which passed off very pleasantly.”

It is of great value to the C. L. S. C. to have the support of the local press. In no other way can so much and so effective work be done. A circle which lacks the will to extend its boundaries, and which selfishly is content with “our set,” can not reap the full benefit of our work. We need to take in others, to be always open to receive members, and to employ the best means to make ourselves and our hospitality known. The local paper is the best medium for this. Many of our friends have proven this so, among them the Chautauquans of DE SOTO, MO., who send newspaper announcements of two meetings recently held, giving their program and entertainments, and cordially inviting others to join them. The effect can not but be good. The program which they offer recommends itself to every reader as meaning serious study and genuine culture, and the hearty summons to come and join them proves a catholicity of spirit even more desirable than culture.

In the neighboring state of KANSAS, at WILLIAMSBURG, the circle has followed a similar plan. They publish in their local papers a review of the extent of the C. L. S. C. work, describe its methods, and then call attention to their own goodly company of forty members, who are all anxious to receive cordially any one who may desire to undertake the reading. The Williamsburg circle holds monthly public meetings and does the work of the month through the medium of sub-circles, which meet more frequently—a plan which in several large circles we have known to work admirably.

The Invincibles who make up the Longfellow circle of NEW ORLEANS, LA., entered upon their four years’ work in October. A friend has kindly given us an account of the work the members did during the summer months: “The summer circle was very pleasant; the C. L. S. C. studies not extending through the summer months, they were thrown on their own resources for a program. They read regularly from Emerson and Ruskin, also extracts from Hamerton’s, ‘Intellectual Life,’ Carlyle, and Dr. Holland, with a bit of poetry now and then. You see they are not starving, but eating ‘strong meat.’ In October the circle began the regular readings. Now, when you remember that though our thermometer runs along in the nineties for weeks at a time, and that though floods, epidemics and musquitoes interfere with steady work, these people have gone bravely through three years, and have done thorough work, you will not wonder that I am proud of my children.”

WYOMING TERRITORY sends notice of a new organization of the C. L. S. C. at EVANSTON, called the “Unita Local Circle.” The circle was started October 7, and officers—two only, president and secretary—were elected. The spirit of the circle they sum up in the following concise and suggestive sentences: “Enthusiastic devotion to the ‘Chautauqua Idea.’ Plain informal meetings for mutual questionings, recitations to each other, map studies, and practical application of new truths taught, as per example, ‘Resolved, to try every method given for cooking the potato.’”

THE C. L. S. C. CLASSES.

CLASS OF 1885.

“_Press on, reaching after those things which are before._”

OFFICERS.

_President_—J. B. Underwood, Meriden, Conn. _Vice President_—C. M. Nichols, Springfield, Ohio. _Treasurer_—Miss Carrie Hart, Aurora, Ind. _Secretary_—Miss M. M. Canfield, Washington, D. C. _Executive Committee_—Officers of the class.

Class badges may be procured of either President or Treasurer.

* * * * *

The price of our _Class Badges_ is ten cents each.

* * * * *

The price of ’85 class paper is fifty cents per box, to be obtained of Mr. Henry Hart, P. O. Box 176, Atlanta, Ga.

* * * * *

The office from which the class has been obtaining their badges has been entirely burned out, and the design of our badge perished with the other contents. We now expect to have a copy of the original design within two weeks, and to be able to furnish more badges by December 1st. It is gratifying to know that the demand for the Lavender has largely increased this fall. This indicates a growing interest in the C. L. S. C. studies this season.

* * * * *

In order that an estimate may be made of the members of ’85 who will take their diplomas at Chautauqua next summer, it is desired that all expecting to be there will forward their names to the secretary, Miss M. M. Canfield, Treasurer’s Department, Third Auditor’s Office, Washington, D. C.

* * * * *

This pleasant testimony to the pleasure of class associations at Chautauqua many an ’85 will welcome. It is taken from a letter on Chautauqua which Mr. Underwood has received: “A very pleasant feature of Chautauqua is the pleasant associations, and especially is this the case among the members of the C. L. S. C. A bond of mutual sympathy exists between them. Reading the same books, with the same object in view, mind and heart culture, it is no wonder that they are a congenial company. There I felt a special pleasure. There are so many, many things to be said in favor of Chautauqua that I feel I have very imperfectly expressed them. The meeting of old friends and finding of new ones contributed another of my pleasant impressions. The recreation afforded by its lovely lake, its health and rest-giving facilities, its elevating influence in every way, have won for it well-deserved fame. My Chautauqua visit will afford me pleasant memories during the coming years, and if permitted, I hope to repeat it next year, and one event I shall look forward to with pleasure, will be the meeting again of our class of ’85.

“Very respectfully yours, ELLA HOLM.”

CLASS OF ’86.

“_We study for light, to bless with light._”

CLASS ORGANIZATION.

_President_—Rev. B. P. Snow, Biddeford, Maine.

_Vice Presidents_—Rev. J. C. Whitley, Salisbury, Maryland; Mr. L. F. Houghton, Peoria, Illinois; Mr. Walter Y. Morgan, Cleveland, Ohio; Mrs. Delia Browne, Louisville, Kentucky; Miss Florence Finch, Palestine, Texas.

_Secretary_—Rev. W. L. Austin, Dunkirk, New York.

* * * * *

The class of ’86 feels that it may exercise a little just pride in the fact that it enters upon its third year with a good 14,000 members, characterized, especially, by earnest, studious application to the work of the course. The class mean to be true to their name, the “Progressives,” and they hope that noise and show may not be the only signs they may give of progress. They trust that ’86 will not fail to make good and continue to maintain the strong and honorable place it now holds as a corps of the great C. L. S. C. army.

* * * * *

It will interest the whole membership of ’86 to know that Principal Fairbairn, of England, the distinguished lecturer on Philosophy this season at Chautauqua, accepted with great satisfaction, an election as honorary member of ’86, and entertains the warmest interest in his class.

* * * * *

Two who have won names in song are among our regular members, and have been elected class poets. One is the author of “No Sect in Heaven,” the other has written admirable verses for THE CHAUTAUQUAN, and for other publications. One honored and earnest member, Professor C. C. Case, will in due time set to music some of the poetic utterances of these writers as class songs for ’86.

* * * * *

A special monogram note paper has been prepared for the class of ’86. It is much admired.

* * * * *

We are pained to record the death of our class-mate, Mrs. Lorica Bennett, of Gilmore, Iowa. Her devotion to the C. L. S. C. had for a long time been intense, and one of her last requests was that her testimony to its benefits be added to the list of those which appear in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

THE CLASS OF 1888.

All items of interest pertaining to the class of 1888 should be sent to C. C. McLean, Jacksonville, Florida.

* * * * *

We are in receipt of a letter from Professor Walton N. Ellis, Chairman of Motto Committee, notifying us that the selection made is “Let us be seen by our deeds,” from the Latin _spectemur agendo_.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

CYRUS THE GREAT AND ALEXANDER THE GREAT, AND “PREPARATORY GREEK COURSE IN ENGLISH.”

BY A. M. MARTIN,

General Secretary C. L. S. C.

FIFTY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON THE HISTORY OF CYRUS THE GREAT.

1. Q. How has the conquest of Cyrus been characterized? A. As the starting-point of European life.

2. Q. As an individual, of what does Cyrus stand out as the representative? A. Of the East.

3. Q. Of what empire was he the founder? A. The Persian empire.

4. Q. Where was the Persian empire situated? A. In Asia, between the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea.

5. Q. At what date did the Persian empire attain to great magnificence? A. About five hundred years before Christ.

6. Q. Contemporaneous with the Persian empire what republics flourished in the West? A. The republics of Greece.

7. Q. What two Greek historians have given us the history of Cyrus? A. Herodotus and Xenophon.

8. Q. How did Herodotus obtain his information for writing his history? A. By visiting the countries about which he wrote.

9. Q. What romance did Xenophon write, founded on the history of Cyrus the Great? A. The “Cyropædia.”

10. Q. Why may we assume that much Xenophon says about Cyrus is fiction? A. His narrative was apparently written for the purpose of conveying lessons in philosophy, morals, and military science, rather than that of stating historical facts.

11. Q. As what kind of a person does he portray Cyrus? A. As a model hero.

12. Q. What six empires or countries are specially associated with the life of Cyrus? A. Media, Persia, Lydia, Babylon, Judah and Scythia.

13. Q. When was Cyrus born? A. About six hundred years before Christ—B. C. 599.

14. Q. At the time of his birth who was king of Media? A. Astyages.

15. Q. Who was the king of Persia at this time? A. Cambyses.

16. Q. Whom did Cambyses marry? A. Mandane, the daughter of Astyages.

17. Q. What son was born to them? A. Cyrus.

18. Q. By reason of his dreams what did Cambyses fear? A. That Cyrus would usurp him.

19. Q. To whom did he give orders to have Cyrus destroyed? A. To Harpagus, an officer of his court.

20. Q. To whom did Harpagus deliver the child Cyrus, with orders to have him left in the forest and destroyed? A. A herdsman, Mitridates.

21. Q. What did Spaco, the wife of Mitridates, persuade her husband to do? A. To substitute Cyrus for her own dead child, and to expose the latter in the forest.

22. Q. About what age was Cyrus when he was discovered by his grandfather and restored to his mother? A. About ten years of age.

23. Q. What revenge did Astyages take upon Harpagus for not carrying out his instructions to have Cyrus destroyed? A. He made a feast to which he invited Harpagus, and after giving him of the flesh of his own son to eat, displayed to him his mutilated remains.

24. Q. In what manner did Harpagus seek to revenge himself against Astyages? A. He plotted the overthrow of his government by fostering discontent at home, and inciting Cyrus to attempt the conquest of his grandfather’s kingdom.

25. Q. When Cyrus made the attempt what was the result? A. Astyages was defeated, and Cyrus was established on the throne of the united kingdom of Media and Persia.

26. Q. What prominent empire or kingdom existed in Asia Minor at the time of Cyrus, of which Crœsus was the king? A. Lydia.

27. Q. For what was Crœsus celebrated? A. For his great wealth.

28. Q. With whom did Crœsus ally himself and attempt the conquest of the Persian empire? A. With the Lacedæmonians.

29. Q. When the two armies met at Pteria, in the eastern part of Asia Minor, what was the result of the battle that ensued? A. The conflict was continued all day, and at night each army withdrew from the field.

30. Q. What did Crœsus do after the battle? A. Thinking Cyrus was repulsed he returned to Lydia for fresh recruits, dismissing his army on the way, intending to renew the invasion in the spring.

31. Q. What course did Cyrus pursue? A. He followed after Crœsus, and forced him to renew the contest under the walls of Sardis.

32. Q. What did Cyrus oppose to the cavalry of Crœsus? A. His transport camels.

33. Q. What was the result? A. The camels threw the cavalry into confusion, and Crœsus met with overwhelming defeat, which was soon followed by the capture of Sardis and the taking of the king prisoner.

34. Q. What great empire in Asia was yet unconquered by Cyrus? A. Babylon.

35. Q. What river flowed through the city of Babylon? A. The river Euphrates.

36. Q. Who was king of Babylon when Cyrus attempted its conquest? A. Belshazzar.

37. Q. In what manner did Cyrus capture the city? A. He turned the Euphrates from its course, and marching his army by the dry bed of the river under the walls, surprised Belshazzar at a feast, and gained full possession of the city.

38. Q. To whom does the Bible narrative attribute the taking possession of Babylon? A. To Darius the Mede.

39. Q. How can this apparent contradiction be explained? A. On the probable theory that Darius held the sovereignty as the viceroy of Cyrus.

40. Q. How has a recently discovered inscription confirmed the truth of the Scripture narrative that Belshazzar was the king of Babylon at the time of its capture, although authorities in secular history give the name of Nabonnedus as the king? A. By proving that Nabonnedus, during the last years of his reign, associated his son, Bil-shar-uzur—which name is shortened to Belshazzar—with himself in the government, and allowed him the royal title.

41. Q. At the time of the capture of Babylon who were in captivity there? A. The Jews.

42. Q. How many years after the captivity did the restoration of the Jews to Jerusalem take place? A. Seventy years.

43. Q. One year after the taking of Babylon what proclamation did Cyrus issue? A. A proclamation allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem, and rebuild their city and the Temple.

44. Q. After the conquest of Babylon of how large a territory did Cyrus find himself the sovereign? A. Nearly all of then known Asia.

45. Q. About how many years had he been engaged in these conquests? A. About thirty years.

46. Q. What northern tribe did he now try to conquer? A. The Massagetæ, one of the Scythian nations.

47. Q. By whom were they governed? A. By a queen named Tomyris.

48. Q. What was the result of the expedition? A. The Persian army was almost wholly destroyed, and the body of Cyrus was found among the slain.

49. Q. Who succeeded Cyrus to the throne of the Persian empire? A. His son Cambyses.

50. Q. What difficulties are experienced in tracing the connection between the secular history of the Persian domination and the narrative of the same epoch as given in the Bible? A. The proper names used to designate the same person are different in the secular and in the sacred histories, and the best scholars are not agreed in identifying the two.

II.—QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON THE HISTORY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

51. Q. In what year was Alexander the Great born? A. In the year 356 B. C.

52. Q. At what age did he commence, and at what age end his career? A. He commenced when about twenty years old, and died at thirty-two years of age.

53. Q. Where was his native country? A. On the confines of Europe and Asia.

54. Q. What were some of the characteristics of the Asiatic civilization? A. Wealth and luxury; vast cities and splendid palaces; and enormous armies, magnificently equipped.

55. Q. What were some of the characteristics of the European civilization? A. Energy, genius and force; strong citadels and military constructions; and compact bodies of troops, thoroughly disciplined.

56. Q. What were the names of Alexander’s father and mother? A. Philip and Olympias, the latter being the daughter of the king of Epirus.

57. Q. What great philosopher had charge of the education of Alexander? A. Aristotle.

58. Q. In what great battle did Alexander take part, when eighteen years of age? A. The battle of Chæronea.

59. Q. What befell Philip, the father of Alexander, at the celebration of the wedding of his daughter? A. As the military procession was moving toward the theater he was stabbed to the heart by Pausanias, an officer of the guard, and immediately expired.

60. Q. At the time of Philip’s death what great expedition had he been planning? A. An expedition into Asia.

61. Q. What did Alexander, as successor to Philip on the throne, determine as to this projected expedition? A. To carry it out as designed by his father.

62. Q. How large an army did he have when he at length marched into Asia? A. Thirty-five thousand men, five thousand being cavalry.

63. Q. At what place did Alexander first encounter the Persian army, and in how large force? A. At the river Granicus. The Persian force is stated to have been from two to six hundred thousand.

64. Q. What was the result of the battle? A. The army of Alexander crossed the Granicus in the face of the enemy, and entirely routed the Persian army.

65. Q. After marching further into Asia, who advanced to meet him? A. Darius, the king of Persia, with a vast army, equipped in great splendor.

66. Q. Where did the hostile armies meet, and how did the battle that ensued result? A. On the plains of Issus. The Persian army was defeated and routed, the king saving himself by precipitate flight.

67. Q. Where did Alexander meet his first obstruction in his march along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean? A. At the great and powerful city of Tyre.

68. Q. What followed the taking of Tyre by Alexander, after a long siege? A. The slaughter of the inhabitants, and it is said that Alexander crucified two thousand of them along the seashore.

69. Q. Into what country did Alexander soon after march, and what city did he there found? A. Into Egypt, and founded the city of Alexandria.

70. Q. After again returning to Asia, where did Alexander encounter the Persian army, and with what result? A. On the plain of Arbela, where fifty thousand men under Alexander defeated and routed the army of Darius of from five hundred thousand to a million men, leaving the bodies of three hundred thousand of the slain on the field.

71. Q. To what three cities did Alexander now march that surrendered on his approach? A. Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis, the capital of the Persian empire.

72. Q. To what position did Alexander now find himself elevated, at the age of twenty-six? A. To the summit of his ambition. Darius was dead, and he was the undisputed master of western Asia.

73. Q. For the following two or three years where did Alexander continue his expeditions and conquests? A. In Asia, meeting with a great variety of adventures.

74. Q. After his return to Babylon from an expedition into India how did he spend his time? A. In forming vast plans one day, and utter abandonment to all the excesses of dissipation and vice the next.

75. Q. What was the immediate occasion of his death? A. A prolonged carousal was followed by a violent fever, which soon terminated fatally.

76. Q. What became of the empire of Alexander after his death? A. It was for many years subjected to protracted civil wars, which resulted in its separation into numerous small kingdoms.

III.—QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON “PREPARATORY GREEK COURSE IN ENGLISH,” FROM PAGE 172 TO END OF BOOK.

77. Q. Of what is the most famous passage in the Sixth Book of the “Iliad” descriptive? A. The parting of Hector and Andromache, his wife, bringing with her their little child.

78. Q. Who among the Greeks takes the honors of the seventh book of the “Iliad?” A. Ajax.

79. Q. What constitutes a prominent feature in the eighth book of the “Iliad?” A. Another account of the Olympian gods in council.

80. Q. Technically described, what is Homer’s verse? A. Dactylic hexameter.

81. Q. What is a dactyl? A. A foot of three syllables, of which the first is long and the other two short.

82. Q. In dactylic hexameter how many of these feet are there in a line? A. Six.

83. Q. Name a classic English poem written in dactylic hexameter? A. Longfellow’s “Evangeline.”

84. Q. What does the “Odyssey” mean? A. The poem of Odysseus, or Ulysses, king of the island of Ithaca.

85. Q. When Troy was taken for what place did Odysseus and his followers sail? A. Ithaca.

86. Q. On their way, to what land were they driven? A. That of the Cyclops, a savage race of one-eyed giants.

87. Q. Here, what did Odysseus do to the Cyclop Polyphemus? A. He put out the one eye of the monster, after he had eaten six of the hero’s comrades.

88. Q. What did Poseidon, the god of the sea and father of Polyphemus, do in revenge? A. He doomed Odysseus to wander far and wide over the sea to strange lands.

89. Q. When the “Odyssey” begins, ten years after the fall of Troy, where is Odysseus? A. In the island of Ogygia, at the center of the sea, where for seven years the nymph Calypso has detained him against his will.

90. Q. Meanwhile, what has befallen Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, in Ithaca? A. She has been courted by more than a hundred suitors, lawless, violent men, who feast riotously in the house of Odysseus as if it were their own.

91. Q. When Odysseus at length gets permission to sail from Ogygia, and starts on a raft, what occurs to him? A. Poseidon wrecks his raft, and he is thrown upon the island of the Phæacians, a rich and happy people near to the gods.

92. Q. Upon being entertained by the king of the Phæacians, what are the subjects of some of the adventures he relates? A. The enchantress Circe, the sweet singing Sirens, and the passage between Scylla and Charybdis.

93. Q. After Odysseus is taken back to Ithaca by a Phæacian crew, what is the fate of the suitors of Penelope? A. They are all slain in the palace by Odysseus, assisted by his son Telemachus and two trusty servants.

94. Q. What are some of the most noted translations of the Odyssey? A. Chapman’s, Pope’s, Cowper’s, Worsley’s, and Bryant’s.

95. Q. What part of the adventures of Odysseus does our author first give in an extended quotation from Worsley’s translation of the “Odyssey?” A. His stay in the country of the Phæacians.

96. Q. What was the name of the king of the Phæacians, frequently referred to in poetry containing classical allusions? A. Alcinous.

97. Q. Of what is the next extended quotation descriptive that is given by our author from Worsley’s translation of the “Odyssey?” A. The slaughter of the suitors of Penelope by Odysseus and his son.

98. Q. Of what are the remaining quotations given descriptive? A. Odysseus making himself known to Penelope, his wife, and to Laertes, his father.

99. Q. Who now intervenes to avert further bloodshed? A. Athene.

100. Q. In what manner is this accomplished? A. She stays the hand of Ulysses, raised in fell self-defense against the avenging kindred of the suitors, and enjoins a solid peace between the two parties at feud.

101. Q. In this appearance what familiar form does the goddess Athene assume? A. That of Mentor, ancient friend of Ulysses.

THE CHAUTAUQUA UNIVERSITY.

BY PROF. R. S. HOLMES, A.M.

The Chautauqua University is empowered by its charter to grant the degrees ordinarily conferred by American colleges. The chief of these are Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Philosophy, and Civil Engineer, to be awarded to undergraduates at the completion of certain prescribed courses of study, as the seal of their work and the sign of their graduation. The degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy are the leading post-graduate degrees. The Chautauqua University proposes to use the power granted by its charter whenever the occasion may demand. It believes that good and thorough study may be done at home; that good and thorough instruction may be imparted by correspondence; and when good home study and good instruction by correspondence are united, it believes that as good and thorough education will result as results from resident college training, and such education it proposes to recognize and crown.

The Chautauqua University does not contemplate the bestowal of degrees upon groups, or ranks, or classes of individuals who may for certain periods of time have been associated in the same studies and the same courses. It is the individual student, as an individual, who will receive the Chautauqua degree, and not he, until after tests severer than are required of students in the average college, and after more years than college students think they can spare from practical life. The student of the Chautauqua University is in practical life when he becomes a student, and remains in practical life while he is a student, consecrating to self culture those spare hours which his neighbor, who has graduated long ago, spends in idleness or in restless quest of amusement.

The Chautauqua University does not design to lower the standard of attainment essential to a degree. This does not mean cheap diplomas for the masses—it means education for those who have stood outside the gates of opportunity; it means lofty purpose, noble aim, self-sacrificing consecration to culture of mature hours and rigid discipline whose end is power. This institution opens no door to the multitudes of youth annually leaving our high schools, through which they can pass along some royal road to enter the portals and sit down in the palace of culture. To all of this class who can, it says go to college; climb the heights of Olympus; sit on the hill of Helicon; drink at the Pierian spring; walk in the groves of the academy; seek with Crito to catch Socrates as he passes out of his prison; put on the buskin; wear the laurel. For you we have nothing. But for the great majority of those who, year by year are passing from school into the practical avenues of life, the multitude who can not go to college, we rear an altar by the fireside, on which we kindle the fires of truth, by whose light they shall see clearly to read the mysteries of that world of knowledge into which their more fortunate companions have gone; and when the years have passed, years of patient toil, of earnest endeavor, of unswerving purpose, of daily sacrifice upon those altars of spare moments of time, they, too, shall wear the laurel.

The Chautauqua University has no purpose of swelling Chautauqua ranks at the expense of established resident institutions. It offers no allurement to turn young men or young women away from college. It seeks to foster the college spirit, to create a desire for intimate knowledge of the liberal arts. It would see college graduates numbered not by tens, but by hundreds. It holds high the banner of college education. On it are inscribed the immortal names of Edwards, Hopkins, Woolsey, Dwight, and the long illustrious list of those who have made illustrious the institutions with which they were connected. It bids the young men of the nation to range themselves beneath their standard, _if they can_. But for those who can not, the young, gifted, anxious, who are longing to stand beside their former companions, but can not; for those also who could not, the mature, with vigorous powers, who by earnest labor and economic care have escaped the environments of early days, and are able now to give a leisure hour to study; for those, too, who would not, and who to-day regret and would atone for the mistake of by-gone days; for all these we raise the standard of the Chautauqua University, and bid them range themselves beneath it. _Tandem fit surculus arbor_—“The sapling has at last become a tree.”

But while Chautauqua takes this last step upward she forgets and abandons nothing of her past. The Assembly, with its years of wonderful influence, goes on to widen that influence. Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, serving a purpose of wide usefulness goes on to enlarge that usefulness with ever increasing numbers. The methods which have made her past so successful and memorable will characterize her future. The annual pilgrimage of tens of thousands to the shores of the beautiful lake will continue. Sermon and lecture, discussion and conversation, representations of the treasures of art, and the wonders of science, study and recreation, pathos and zest will still instruct, delight, arouse and rest her summer multitudes. But all this does not complete Chautauqua’s work for the world. There is a higher summit to be reached, and on its crest is reared the University, and only accurate learning and close scholarship can speak the open sesame that will give entrance to her inmost shrines.

It has been the burden of this article to impress our readers with the idea that diplomas in the Chautauqua University can not be had on call, but will be awarded only to high attainment after strenuous toil. But while we would speak on this subject in language that shall not be misunderstood, we would not go to the other extreme, and deter any from entering upon the work. Though our standards are high, they are not too high to be reached. Art may be long, and time fleeting; but art is not too long and time is not too fleeting to allow an earnest man or woman within their time to measure the length and breadth of the treasures art may hold.

The Chautauqua University appeals to a mighty constituency. There are a hundred thousand readers who, glancing over the columns of their daily or weekly paper, will stop to read with attentive interest the article or item which contains the word “Chautauqua.” The circle into which their lines of influence radiate is almost without circumference. That appeal has been answered. From this constituency, within the month just ending, hundreds of inquiries, prompted by the article in the October issue of THE CHAUTAUQUAN, have reached the University office. They come from the farthest eastward province of the Dominion of Canada, and from the remotest southern and western states of the American Union. Chief among the inquiries has been one concerning the courses of study to be pursued for the attainment of specific degrees, prompted, no doubt, by the following paragraph from our preliminary circular:

DEGREES.

Among the degrees to be conferred by the Chautauqua University on the satisfactory completion by the candidate of prescribed courses, are the following:

A. B.—A Full Academic Course.

A. M.—A Post-Graduate Course in approved liberal studies.

B. S.—An Elective Course in Science, Art, and English.

Ph. B.—An Elective Academic Course.

Ph. D.—A Post-Graduate Course in Philosophy, and one or more other liberal studies.

In pursuance of our purpose to show how much we shall require, and still that such requirement may be met by him who will, and to answer the inquiries on the subject, we add our proposed course of study for the diploma and degree of Bachelor of Arts. This is not sent out as final, or as not subject to modification. It is, however, substantially the basis of all work in the Chautauqua University, and is as follows:

The completion of the following courses of study, and the possession of certificates from the directors of the various departments which these courses represent, will be required before the student will be recommended for the degree of Bachelor of Arts: Two full courses in Greek; three full courses in Latin; four full courses in Mathematics; two full courses in French or German; three full courses in English; two full courses in History; one full course each in Philosophy, Political Economy, Physics, Chemistry, Moral Philosophy, Astronomy, the History and Literature of Art, and two full courses in Biological Science. The student will not be required to pursue these courses exactly as prescribed, as wide opportunity will be given the individual to substitute other branches than those named, or more courses in particular departments than are here specified, as he may elect. But in every case full courses equal in number to those specified will be required. For the other degrees the scheme of study now pursued will form the basis, such omission and substitution being made as are suited to the particular degree; but in no case will a diploma be given for less than twenty-two full courses. With this outline of work before them, students will be able to begin at once without further inquiry. Select the courses which you will first attempt; and with purpose never to cease your effort till success has crowned it, we bid you enter the Chautauqua University.

EDITOR’S OUTLOOK.

A DANGER FOR LOCAL CIRCLES.

We are often slow to believe that our pet institutions have points of attack. We become so enamored with their merits that we close our eyes to their dangers. Particularly is this true, we fear, in regard to the local circle. Its members rejoice so heartily in its existence that they are prone at times to forget that even a local circle is heir to the frailty of all human institutions, and that it may be threatened by dangers which, unless arrested, will destroy its usefulness. One danger at a time is sufficient to consider; certainly so when so serious a one as narrowness is announced.

The whole plan of the C. L. S. C. is broad—it is literally for _all_ men. Any department of the work which is conducted on any other principle fails to discharge its full allegiance. We fear that the local circle is in danger of losing sight of this great principle. Most natural is it for circles to so limit themselves. When a club of ten, twenty or thirty congenial members has been formed, when a pleasant plan of work has been adopted and thoroughly organized, it is comfortable and natural to decide that the circle is large enough; that a larger number would spoil the informality, would bring in an uncongenial element, would be unmanageable. The growth of the circle is stopped in the community, and the harm done is threefold. Probably the most serious evil is that the exclusiveness of the circle has abridged the usefulness of the C. L. S. C. Intended for all men who need a course of reading it naturally asks from its members fidelity to this underlying catholicity of spirit. The original plan of its founder did not include the local circle. His idea was to ask from every reader faithfulness to the broad and inspiring principle on which he had based the plan. Every member was to lead others to the well. The local circle has grown up and is undoubtedly a wonderful help in many ways, but it is in danger of keeping the C. L. S. C. from the very people who need it most. A circle once formed, and which has closed its doors to all outsiders, naturally spreads the idea that the C. L. S. C. is a sort of a private club, that only certain kinds of people are admitted, or it is suitable for only such and such people. Utterly false and harmful in the extreme to the work, it is but a logical result from this exclusiveness.

An injury almost as deplorable is the encouragement this limitation gives to the widespread social evil of “sets.” “Our set” is the bane of church union; it breaks up the harmony of Sabbath-schools; it divides our towns into a vast number of petty, jealous cliques. This spirit is contrary to the fundamental principles of our work, yet we encourage, rather than hinder it by narrowing our borders in the local circle.

Unless we do open our lines we suffer, ourselves. We lose the greatest aid which the C. L. S. C. has to offer—the inspiration which comes from working for a good cause. Sustained zeal is possible only when fed by unselfishness. Work becomes nerveless, narrow, crotchety, which has not the inspiration of being not only a help to oneself, but a help to others. To omit this labor for others is to leave out a most important part of the course.

But perhaps, it is argued, this is not practical. We have a habit, now-a-days, of declaring “not practical” a great many ideas whose utility is evident, but whose realization is attended with self-denial and constant effort. Do not be deceived. _All_ good things are practical, if not always easy. Catholicity in the C. L. S. C. most certainly is so. Have you a large circle and do you hesitate before extending its boundaries, then you should form a second circle. Through the efforts of your members not only one but any number might be started, until there would not be a house in your town in which the C. L. S. C., if not a member, at least would be an acquaintance. These could meet separately each week, but monthly meetings, memorial celebrations and vesper services should beheld jointly. In every city where local circles exist, at least three joint meetings should occur in the year. Each society should be represented at these meetings, and provision should be made for social converse. This plan, so easily arranged, has been successfully tried in many places. It does not hinder the great work of a small circle, and removes the danger of narrowness. It may cost you self-denial and struggle, but the broader view of your true relations to men which you will get, the inspiration of seeing the work extended, and the increased friendliness in the inhabitants of your town will more than compensate.

ELECTING A CHIEF MAGISTRATE.

Under the wholesome rule of the constitution, by which power regularly returns to the people for a new lease of it, we have just chosen a President of the United States. It is wise to remember the things which were _not_ before the people for their decision. There is, for example, the constitution under which we live with its securities for all well-defined rights under a judiciary made as independent as possible. There is also that system of local self-government vesting in states, cities, counties and towns, the control of business which is exclusively their own. There is the general policy of leaving the people to transact private business for themselves and relieving them of infantile dependence on the government. What a contrast to that Roman empire which gave _panem et circenses_ to the people and reduced the popular conception of government to that of a good fairy who furnished food and amusement—ran the bakeries and the theaters! But on the other hand, we may as wisely remember that a campaign may have fateful bearings on our dearest interests; highest moralities and most revered sanctities. It is conceivable that the result of an election might be the admission of polygamous Utah as a state, and the consecration of plural marriage as one of the allowable and honored modes of founding the American family. It is also conceivable that as the result of an election the laboring classes might be reduced to distress, and all of us along with them, by the establishment of free competition between our workmen and the men in blouses, and the women in wooden shoes, on the other side of the ocean. It is possible, too, that a new interpretation of the constitution which would seriously impair private rights might grow from the results of an election. Nor can we forget that the _spirit_ of our public life is powerfully affected by the discussions and the management of political campaigns. The profuse spending of money to influence votes, the recklessness which breaks out in ballot-box stuffing and counting-out frauds is more dangerous than any proposition to alter the constitution; for it does alter it and sells out the governing of us to unscrupulous managers.

And therefore it is a happy result of our political system as our fathers gave it to us, that the people interest themselves in elections, discourage great changes in our laws, impose a conservative policy upon parties, demand respect for the sanctities of the family and of society, and frown upon corrupt practices in handling the national ballot-boxes or influencing the nation’s voters by bribes and unlawful promises.

We have for the twenty-fifth time chosen a President. The office has grown in its burdens, but it has not grown in its constitutional powers. For ten years there was a great danger that its wholesome powers would be seriously reduced by the so-called “courtesy of the Senate,” according to which the President became the clerk of the Senators for Federal appointments in each state. But since the pistol shot which killed President Garfield was fired, the so-called “courtesy” has ceased to be named except for condemnation; and the President retains the power Washington had to nominate office-holders in the several states. Probably there has never been a time when the highest office was more carefully and exactly defined by practice in harmony with the constitution. The President does not dictate to Congress, force nominations through the Senate, or interfere with the independence of the Federal courts. On the other hand one may search the newspapers in vain for a trace of distrust or criticism in any of these vital concernments. After the war there was a period during which the constitution underwent severe strain at several points. The criticisms of the times of Johnson and Grant turned mostly upon constitutional questions. The conflicts of politics bore upon that class of differences. To many it seemed doubtful whether our institutions could survive these struggles. Providence has been good to us; we have been good to ourselves and our children. The storms are overpast. The constitution exists unimpaired; it is universally accepted as the fundamental law. There has not been a breath of discussion about it in the late campaign. It is many quadrenniums since the like occurred; indeed we doubt if there ever was any such campaign in this respect. Here and there a man may be found to explain our peace as ignorant indifference; but he is profoundly wrong. The separate powers of the government are well defined, and the independence of each in its own domain is preserved. The single new machine—national supervision of congressional elections through U. S. Marshals—had in it great possibilities of danger. It might have been so handled as to vest the power to hold the ballot-boxes in the President’s hands; but it has simply created salutary checks on frauds. Here and there an isolated case of improper interference may reach the record; but there is no fear abroad that our chief magistrate abuses his powers. The errors when they occur are only the blunders of individual officers, not an organized invasion of the people’s rights. So little has been said about this piece of machinery recently, that we half fear that some readers have forgotten or never heard of the Federal election laws. The sum of what we would say is that the late election marks the subsidence of those waves of constitutional disorder or conflict which had run high from the beginning of the war to the death of President Garfield. We have evidently entered upon a new field of partisan controversy; and no constitutional questions, only questions of expediency, are before us or are likely to be. The industrial problems as related to tariff questions, perhaps also some others, such as the expediency of National savings banks and life insurance bureaus for the poor, are likely to lead the political thought into channels which were never before open to it in the line of humanitarianism and the general welfare. In becoming a manufacturing nation we have traveled to new political outlooks. We have to adjust ourselves to the results of our tariff laws, whether or not we like either the laws or its results. The results are some millions of men and women earning wages in mills, whose fate and that of their children is in our hands. We shall be tempted to follies of protection as well as follies of free trade; to follies of philanthropy as well as follies of indifference and neglect. To thoughtful men the path to safety may well seem as narrow as the edge of that scimetar along which the Moslem saint skated into Paradise. Let us hope that the conservative genius of our people will not fail in these new fields of political activity; and that the buoyant hope of this growing people may continue to lift us out of the dangers of the failure of self-confidence. It is our happiness that we feel able to govern ourselves, equal to our problems, superior to our perils. If it should ever come to pass that the mass of our citizens lost the self-assurance for which foreigners sometimes unwisely rebuke them, they would begin to transfer the government to oligarchies, aristocracies, or “the man on horseback.” The campaign has had many unpleasant incidents—political mills can not be clean and quiet any more than other mills can—but a judicious observer will have noted with satisfaction that the plain men have everywhere felt equal to forming their own judgments about grave matters concerning which the so-called wise have differed most energetically. And inasmuch as the wise could not agree, it is safe to say that the wayfaring men have displayed as much sense as “their betters,” and more courage and consistency. We have been impressed by the experience of the campaign with the belief that the average American, who knows neither Latin nor science, does understand his principal business—that of governing this country.

PRINCIPAL FAIRBAIRN’S LECTURES.

The lectures of Principal A. M. Fairbairn, of England, on the Chautauqua platform last summer, were a valuable contribution to contemporary philosophy. Their subject is Modern Philosophy in its specifically English form. Starting with Locke, and passing along through the ideas of Berkeley, Hume, the Mills, Comte, and Herbert Spenser, the learned and brilliant lecturer gave us a history of modern speculation respecting the problem, “How is knowledge possible? What are its conditions? How does man come by it?” We have lately read over again these lectures in the careful reports made for the _Assembly Herald_; and we believe we shall render our readers a service by calling their attention to the importance of them and reminding those who have not files of them that they are on sale at this office. There is a very remarkable unity in the empirical philosophy which is associated with the names we have just given, and this unity was developed with rare skill by Principal Fairbairn. John Locke, the English founder of the school, formulated and determined the problem of philosophy for the English and the French peoples; and though each of them was original after his kind, Berkeley, Hume, the Mills, Comte and Herbert Spenser have worked upon lines which Locke laid down. Locke asked himself, how do ideas come into the mind? and answered his question by saying, there are no ideas in the mind until the senses have conveyed them in. In other terms, he undertook to disperse as a metaphysical mist the “innate ideas” in which philosophy believed when he began to write. In varying forms, the notion that there is nothing in the mind except what the senses have put there remains the creed of the empirical philosophy. The criticism of Principal Fairbairn upon the successive statements of the doctrine that the outer world is prior, and creates the inner world, is very keen and accurate. Locke was fond of saying that the mind was like a clean table, to which the senses brought ideas. Our critic asks: “Did you ever find a table that could grasp the significance of what was graved on it?” and adds, “It is the power to read the writing and weave it into a connected and reasonable and rational whole, which is the very thing to be explained. It is not how nature through the senses comes to me, but how I through the senses read nature.” And one of his strong and luminous statements is, that “Ideas can not get into the mind unless there is a mind to get into.”

The purpose of the critic throughout these lectures was to establish the priority of thought by disposing one by one of the various attempts to post-fix mind to matter. The attempts successively made to attach mind, ideas, thought, conscience, and philosophy to the tail of the material kite, all tended, of course, to skepticism. As a theologian Dr. Fairbairn was instinctively drawn to the task of reversing this order so as to attach matter as a tail to the kite of the spiritual world. No matter how plausibly stated, the theory that our knowledge and our minds are a result of material energy reduces any possible God to the status of a product of nature. If in reasoning about ourselves we shall finally conclude that our inner totality is simply and only a product of the external world, we shall be forced to conclude that all thought in the universe is of like origin. The skeptical result is inevitable. Whatever view we take of substance in nature we are compelled to decide whether or not it is so moulded as to express the thoughts of an infinite God. If we so believe we shall find it easy to explain how thought in us finds a cosmos in nature. If the infinite mind reveals his thought in the order and harmony of the external world, the fact easily explains why we _find_ order and harmony there. It is not necessary to reduce the external world to a phantasmagoria of the mind in order to vindicate a place for God. Rather the most subtle and dangerous of skepticisms may lie in the teaching that innate ideas construct the harmonies of nature. Berkeley said we are reading God’s thoughts in the visible world; and hegelianism, to which Principal Fairbairn evidently leans, dispenses with matter while filling the universe with thought. It is equally easy to give matter reality as a plastic thing on which God writes his thoughts so that we may read them. This question of the reality of substance may very properly be the next one to command the attention of philosophy. But it must be remembered that the science which resolves matter into motion and force conspires with the philosophy which makes matter merely the expression of divine ideas.

But we do not wish to make our readers heads ache with philosophy; only to suggest to those who are interested in it that these lectures will afford them valuable instruction. At their close on the Chautauqua platform, Chancellor Vincent expressed in happy terms the admiration of thousands who heard these lectures for their vigor and eloquence. He said: “Principal Fairbairn, in behalf of Chautauqua I desire to say a very few words. We are glad that you came. We are sorry that you must go. You have commanded our admiration by the elegance, clearness and force of your diction, but preëminently by the vigor and freshness of your thought. You stand before us a great ‘phenomenon.’ [Applause.] For we have been accustomed to vigorous thought read from manuscript, we have been accustomed to vigorous thought put into memory and recited with accuracy, but this living, present, compact, vigorous thinking on one’s feet, that has held us spell-bound, is a very remarkable occurrence at Chautauqua.” [Applause.]

EDITOR’S NOTE-BOOK.

The saying “politics makes strange bed-fellows,” never had a more dramatic exhibition than in the case of Henry Ward Beecher. In the late campaign, he was violently handled by the only paper in New York which supported and defended him in his trial; and he has been on the same side with the papers which at that time most infamously abused him. The press is also fairly representative of the public around him; his life-long friends have now been opposed to him; and one friend of other years has been branded by him as “a continental liar,” whatever that may be. “It is,” say his present friends, “the fate of a prophet.” His older friends say “he is growing old.”

* * * * *

In England, in one county, 30,000 acres of good land are tenantless because the laborers and farmers have gone to manufacturing towns. To cure this evil Lady Catherine Gaskell wants to put a stop to educating the poor. She is a picturesque reformer who may be safely classed with the Roman pontiff. She would forbid the humble classes to wear clothes such as other people wear, send them to the fields at three o’clock in the morning, and keep them with the cattle. The dear soul is probably mad, at least “south by southwest.”

* * * * *

It is said that the Jesuits are creeping back into Rome and buying property in the names of private persons. The Pope is very busy and hopeful in his work of strengthening the church. One aspect of this matter of the Papacy and its Jesuit agents, is too much overlooked. Italy can not successfully fight either the Papacy or Jesuitory _with atheism_. So long as the Catholics have the religion of the country they will actually rule it, whatever may be the form of government. A dreadfully perverted Christianity is still a positive force, advancing and aggressive. Atheism is not a force; it is a barren negation. A Protestant Italy is the want of liberty in that peninsula.

* * * * *

Wm. H. Vanderbilt has given $500,000 to the New York City College of Physicians and Surgeons. The gift is wise and generous, and it breaks a disagreeable silence. It is only by such gifts that very rich men can satisfy our moral sense. The vast wealth can be justified only as a stewardship for one’s fellow men; and we want to see the proofs that the stewardship is righteously exercised.

* * * * *

A Chinese pamphlet, instigated by the French invasion, and designed to inflame the passion of the celestials, says that Europeans are not human beings at all, but wild animals descended from monkeys. We fear that an imperfect copy of Darwin has fallen into the hands of this pamphleteer; but he gives us a chance to see ourselves as others see us.

* * * * *

October is the month of political parades in the political almanac. This year the display at some points was magnificent. Broadway, New York, with from thirty to sixty thousand men in line, in the picturesque costumes of contemporary politics, is the most imposing sight in the world. And our sober-sided people seem to like and enjoy this single form of public theatrical effects.

* * * * *

Now and then a good man is plentifully advertised as “a man with a conscience.” Would it not be easier and more wholesome to morals to confine this kind of advertising to the men who are without consciences? The men who have consciences must be very numerous.

* * * * *

The appointment of the Hon. Hugh McCullough as Secretary of the Treasury reminds us, not only that President Lincoln nominated him to the same office, but also that he returns to the most arduous office in the United States at the age of seventy-three. His health is perfect, and he has the vigor of middle age. The old men are holding out in American public life about as well as they do in English politics.

* * * * *

Mr. Wm. J. Stillman, an American artist and writer who has lived abroad for twenty-five years, makes a practical suggestion which all who have crossed the Atlantic just once will appreciate. He proposes that the eating on ocean steamers be done on the restaurant principle, each passenger paying for what he eats, at fixed prices. If the plan is adopted, it will considerably reduce the cost of that trip to Europe of which most of our readers are dreaming. Eating and a first voyage are antipathetic.

* * * * *

It is a very amusing thing (to us Americans) which Professor Goldwin Smith says in a recent number of the _Contemporary Review_, that the organization of a government in England can not be long delayed. The fictitious constitution has broken down, he thinks, and a real one (somewhat like ours, but better) must be made for modern England. But the Professor always was hysterical.

* * * * *

The result of the French war in China is still in doubt. Three months ago the French papers were writing about their great victory and proposing that their Tonquin army conquer the Christian queen of Madagascar. Now the latest public statement is that the army in Tonquin is sufficient for _defensive_ operations. There is a gradual growth of manifestations of hostility by the Chinese against all foreigners, and an outbreak is _possible_ which might arm the Christian world against China; but that seems to be the only door of escape for the French from a long and costly war.

* * * * *

The desperate condition of railroad property has been made more desperate by a rate-cutting war. There are more roads than are needed, and this state of things reduces the fares and freights to be divided among an increased number. The result is a still further reduction by reduced fares of passengers. The problem of this class of property is a difficult one; and it is a large one and closely related to the general prosperity. A first step would seem to be getting speculators out of the directorates.

* * * * *

The Northern Pacific Railroad recently transported a solid wheat train containing one hundred and ten cars. Ten years ago the whole region in which this wheat grew was a wilderness. But the farthest great wheat field has now been opened to culture. Wheat will not always be cheap, though it need not be scarce. With the rise in price will come a vast increase of production in the older states.

* * * * *

We are entertained by the solemn pleadings of certain journals that boys be allowed to take exercise, that the schools be restrained from spoiling their bodies while cultivating their minds. Any one who knows a boy when he sees one must “laugh consumedly” over this reform. Teachers will find special and boundless amusement in the idea that a boy can be kept from abundant and even violent exercise.

* * * * *

An interesting side-light on our civilization is the fact that some of the Sitting Bull Indians have been exhibiting themselves and their costumes and customs in a New York theater—“to make money to build houses and buy furniture,” the manager says. This is more heroic than taking scalps for glory.

* * * * *

Once when the superior generalship of General Lee was explained to General Grant, he replied with his usual modesty of tone: “I believe I beat Lee.” We are reminded of the incident by an elaborate explanation that England had all the points of success in her favor, and had them all properly counted in our two wars with her. And yet—we seem to have heard that—we came out ahead. These metaphysical victories are not very satisfactory. Artemas Ward said: “I pulled my enemy down on top of me and firmly inserted my nose between his teeth.” Still, his nose got the worst of it.

* * * * *

The humors of campaign politics are often good enough to keep. After the October election in Ohio a Republican paper said: “John R. McLean, the Democratic manager, married a wife a few days before the election, and after the state was lost to his party, was _the only happy Democrat in Ohio_.” We hope Mrs. McLean saw the neat compliment to herself.

* * * * *

Farmers are peaceable people, and yet the lawyers would starve to death if farmers did not furnish them lawsuits. A movement is on foot in New York state to settle farmers’ differences by arbitration. The Patrons of Husbandry recommend this method, and there is some prospect of its adoption on a considerable scale. We commend the plain common sense of it to our agricultural readers.

* * * * *

King Humbert distinguished the throne of Italy by visiting the plagued cities and following the cholera into hospitals. The Pope, as the pretender to the temporal throne of Rome, had to demonstrate also. He has called for an organized assault by prayer on the heart of the Virgin Mary. It is easier than visiting plague-infested towns, and safer. But the Pope proposes to pay those who pray. All who take part in the “rosary prayer” will get absolution for seven years—not from cholera, but from their sins.

* * * * *

How many people will be in the world in 2000 A. D.? is one of the questions pressing for settlement in the heads of statisticians. It is comforting to know that these interesting and romantic persons assure us that the United States will have six hundred millions, if nothing in the nature of a preventing Providence intervenes. It is a comfort to know that the jury have no personal interest in this verdict in our favor.

* * * * *

This country will have to make some laws on the subject of timber. The big forests are rapidly becoming only memories. We make some kinds of lumber from straw, and iron has taken the place of other kinds. But the woods have climatic uses, and a treeless land is exposed to evils more costly than the value of the timber we are wasting. The annual floods are one item of the cost of destroying trees; changes of climate, which can hardly be measured, are another item but little thought of. The trees are a part of natural economy of the earth.

* * * * *

Public debts are made with far too much carelessness; but people who wish to evade taxes so arising, repudiate _en masse_; and hence comes the interesting question: “Are we a nation of rascals?” If one judges by the number of worthless (or little worth) bonds of all sorts which are in existence, we _are_ a nation of rascals. There must, in other words, be some rascally element in the national character, or all these promises to pay would not be dishonored. The genesis of the good-for-nothing bonds ought to be written philosophically; that may be a necessary preface to writing it with a moral purpose.

* * * * *

The Boston _Traveler_ of November 6th contains, in its editorial department, the following noble compliment to the C. L. S. C.: “This society that teaches the use of leisure hours and inspires the men and women of America with an intelligent aspiration to learn something of all that it is practicable to learn in home study by imparting the enthusiasm of companionship in work, has this year almost twice as many ardent, self-sacrificing students of its curriculum as the combined membership of all the American colleges from Maine to Washington Territory. When we consider the influence of a single collegiate institution, many of whose students attend from parental rather than personal aspirations, and think how much money is annually raised through benevolence for them, exceptional praise is due him who has by his own wit and wisdom, without financial appeal or charitable pretence, called into line for the study of history, philosophy, science and literature nearly double the constituency of all our colleges.”

* * * * *

A story comes from one of the Southern states that a man recently committed suicide rather than pay his taxes. Of the two inevitable things, death and taxes, he seems to have preferred, contrary to the common choice, to suffer death. The story furnishes a text for a sermon on the modification of general feeling relative to taxation. The suicide of the story was a survival; taxes are no longer regarded with aversion; they are paid, as grocers’ bills are, with equanimity.

* * * * *

The desire to fly “springs eternal in the human breast,” and the balloon is a very fascinating field of experiment. A Frenchman seems to have gained a point, and a good one. By using stored electricity he has succeeded in going where he wanted to go, moving for four hours against the wind. An Englishman has invented a means of keeping a balloon at the same level, he thinks. Perhaps ballooning may yet become a practical science.

* * * * *

Eccentric opinions sometimes have a fine and ancient flavor combined with a modern taste. Such is the statement recently made in a public meeting that insanity is increasing among the colored people, and that education is the cause of it. The reader can pick out the two tastes. We fear that the colored people are not yet educated enough to cause insanity, and we do not seem to know that education ever caused anybody to become insane.

* * * * *

Among the “fashions” is the rage for old furniture. Grandmother’s spinning wheel adorns the parlor, and worm-eaten old bureaus flank it on either side. But a dealer in this kind of goods, speaking of course against his rivals in trade, says that most of this old furniture is made at modern factories. Even the old spinning wheels are imitated to perfection. A story—wicked, perhaps—says that a Connecticut man is getting rich making “Mayflower heirlooms.” Persistent rumors of this kind will kill the fashion.

* * * * *

One of the notable events of October was the celebration throughout the world of the hundredth birthday of Sir Joseph Montefiore, the wealthy Jew whose philanthropy has shed luster on his race. In this celebration the Hebrews have the sympathy and congratulations of Christians everywhere. The venerable philanthropist has shown what wealth is good for, and set an example of faithful stewardship which ought not to be lost on other millionaires.

* * * * *

Some one has figured out that “just now, in the United States,” twenty-one deaths in a hundred are caused by violence. It is safe to avoid this kind of statistics. There is no means of knowing what the rate of death by violence really is “just at present,” and it is perfectly certain it is not twenty-one. It is only seven in England, where statistics are kept. We keep none except in large cities, but we certainly are not three times as bloody-handed as Englishmen.

* * * * *

New York had pending in the late election an amendment to the constitution limiting the debts of towns and cities in the ratio of population. In Illinois, in 1870, the new constitution put in force a similar rule. The effect, in many towns, was a series of “improvements,” carrying the debt up to the constitutional limit. The towns were ashamed of themselves when they found that they did not owe as much as the law allowed them to owe.

* * * * *

The horror of being buried alive is the most blood-curdling one known to civilized life, and yet cases of people being buried alive continue to be reported. The death of a woman at Hornellsville, N. Y., was certified by a physician. She was removed from the grave, and report says that, though in all other respects apparently dead, the body perspired freely. It looks like a case of trance. At all events she was buried too soon, and it is probable that in other cases bodies are frozen to death a few hours after apparent death. The whole subject of trance invites study of a more thorough sort than it has hitherto had.

* * * * *

Unpunctuality is a seductive vice in social matters. When a party or a dinner is announced for a given hour, it should begin at that hour, and not an hour or two later. The French custom is to allow half an hour for dilatory guests at dinners; but in other matters the French way is for each of the parties who have made a rendezvous—unless as duelists—to give the other half an hour’s margin, which being taken on both sides makes in all an hour. This system of addition is analogous to what a Californian said of a big tree—it grew so high that it took two men and a boy to see to the top.

* * * * *

ERRATA.—Dr. Felix Oswald, speaking of the principle governing schools of medicine, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN for November, made a quotation concerning the school of Homœopathy, to which a few of our readers filed exceptions. It was not Dr. Oswald’s design to reflect on this honorable class of people, beside, THE CHAUTAUQUAN is not sick, and needs no physician; therefore it is not a partisan among medical men.

* * * * *

In Miss Frances E. Willard’s article, “Romance vs. Reality,” in THE CHAUTAUQUAN for November, the statement that in Ohio in 1883 only 90,000 votes were cast against constitutional prohibition is misleading. There were cast at that election 721,310 votes; now the constitution of Ohio requires that an amendment to be adopted must receive a majority of all the votes cast, which would be 360,655, while the actual vote cast for the amendment was but 223,189.

* * * * *

The class of ’84 “shines for all.” Up to November 1st 1,387 have graduated, and still more to come.

C. L. S. C. NOTES ON REQUIRED READINGS FOR DECEMBER.

PREPARATORY GREEK COURSE IN ENGLISH.

P. 172.—“Hip-polˈo-chus.” This son, Glaucus by name, was a prince of Lycia, a country on the south side of ancient Asia Minor, and an ally of Priam. Hippolochus is remembered only as the father of Glaucus and the son of Bel-lerˈo-phon, who slew the fire-breathing monster, Chi-mæˈra, which had long ravaged Lycia. Glaucus was slain at last by Ajax.

“Braggadocio,” brag-ga-dōˈshĭ-o. Boasting; brag. _Braggadocio_ is a character in Spenser’s “Faerie Queen,” famous for his boastful talk, and his name furnishes us this word.

P. 173.—“Bentley,” Richard. (1662-1742.) “Perhaps the best classical scholar England has ever produced.”

“Foster.” (1770-1843.) A Baptist minister of no great prominence as a preacher, but the author of a large number of valuable essays on biography, literature, philosophy and society.

P. 174.—“An-dromˈa-che.” The daughter of the king of Theˈbe in Cilicia. Her father and seven brothers were killed at the taking of Thebe, and she was ransomed. After the fall of Troy, Andromache fell to Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, and he dying, she married Helenus, the brother of Hector, who had escaped the fury of the Greeks and gained the favor of Pyrrhus.

“Hecˈto-rīˌdes.”

P. 175.—“E-eˈtion.” The king of Thebe.

“Plaˈcos.” A mountain of Mysia, near Thebe.

“Adˈja-ces.” The plural of Ajax, the name of two Greek heroes in the Trojan war. Ajax the Great was a son of the king of Salamis, and second in valor to Achilles. After the death of this latter hero, Ajax contended for his armor with Ulysses, but being defeated, he went mad and took his own life. The Lesser Ajax, as he was called, was a prince of the Locricans, and rivaled Achilles in swiftness of foot. He was drowned while returning to Greece.

“I-domˈe-neus.” The king of Crete, one of the bravest heroes of the Trojan war.

“Aˈtre-us.” “The two chiefs born to Atreus” were Agamemnon and Menelaus.

“Ty-diˈdes.” Diomed, the son Tydeus.

P. 176.—“Hecˈu-ba.” The mother of Hector.

“Mes-seˈis.” A fountain in Laconia.

“Hyp-e-reiˈan.” Homer speaks of several fountains called Hyperia, located in Thessaly.

P. 181.—“An-teˈnor.” One of the wisest counselors of the Trojans, and one of the few spared by the Greeks at the capture of Troy.

“As-træˈa.” Referring to the constellation _Virgo_, between which and the Scorpion “the golden scales” or Libra lies. Astræa was a daughter of Zeus fabled to have lived among men during the Golden Age, and to have been set among the stars at its close.

P. 191.—“Voss.” (1751-1826.) A German scholar. His translation of the “Odyssey” has been, since 1781, the standard German version of that poem. He made translations of many classical works, wrote on Grecian mythology, and was a poet of ability.

“Chry-seˈis.” The daughter of a priest of Apollo, captured at Thebe, and the booty of Agamemnon. Her father solicited her ransom, and when refused, Apollo sent a plague upon the Greeks. Agamemnon was obliged to surrender her, and to make good his loss, demanded Briseis, Achilles’ prize, hence “the wrath of Achilles.”

P. 193.—“Seventh of March.” A speech delivered in Congress by Webster on March 7, 1850, in which he justified the fugitive slave law.

P. 196.—“Dædˈa-lus.” Fabled to have been an Athenian architect who, for murder, was condemned to death. He fled to Crete, where he constructed among other works a labyrinth at Gnosˈsus, or Cnossus, in which to confine the monster Minotaur. The caves and quarries in Mount Ida probably led to this legend.

P. 197.—“Aˌri-adˈne.” The daughter of Minos, the king of Crete.

P. 201.—“Mōˈly.”

“That _Moly_, That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave.”—_Milton._

(See page 231 of “Preparatory Greek Course.”)

P. 202.—“Euˈry-tus.” A legendary hero of Thessaly, said to have been a famous archer. He instructed Hercules in this art, and even boasted to be equal to Apollo.

P. 208.—“Dyˈmas.”

P. 210.—“Er-y-manˈthi-an.” Pertaining to a mountain in Arcadia, famous as the scene of the hunt by Hercules of the Erymanthean boar.

“Ta-ygˈe-tus.” A range of mountains between Laconia and Messuria.

P. 214.—“Euˈry-me-duˌsa;” “A-peiˈra.”

P. 215.—“A-reˈte;” “Perˌi-boiˈa;” “Nau-sithˈo-us;” “Eu-rymˈe-don.”

P. 216.—“Rhex-eˈnor;” “Scheria.” (See page 224 of “Preparatory Greek Course.”)

P. 217.—“Argus-Slayer.” Mercury, who, by the order of Jupiter, killed Argus, whom Juno set to watching Io after she had been changed into a cow.

P. 218.—“Echˌe-neˈus;” “La-odˈa-mas;” “Lustral.” Purifying.

P. 219.—“Pon-tonˈo-us.”

P. 222.—“Rha-da-manˈthus;” “Titˈy-us.” A giant of Eubœa, fabled to have been after death cast into Tartarus, where he lies with two vultures devouring his liver—a punishment for attempting to violate Diana.

P. 227.—“De-iphˈo-bus.” A son of Priam. The Greeks went first to his home on the capture of Troy, being bitter against him, as he was counted second in valor to Hector, and as he had married Helen on Paris’ death.

P. 230.—“Eu-rylˈo-chus;” “Pramˈmi-an.”

P. 235.—“An-tinˈo-us.”

P. 236.—“Eu-rymˈa-chus;” P. 237, “Am-phinˈo-mus;” P. 238, “Agˈe-laˌus;” “Me-lanˈthi-us.”

P. 239.—“Eu-mæˈus;” “Doˈli-us.”

P. 240.—“Menˈtor.” A firm friend of Ulysses, to whom the latter confided his property when he went to the Trojan war. Minerva assumed his form in order to teach Telemachus. “Da-masˈtor;” “Alˈki-mus;” “Eu-rynˈo-mus;” “Am-phimˈe-don;” “Demˌop-tolˈe-mus;” “Pei-sanˈder;” “Polˈy-bus.”

P. 241.—“Eu-ryˈa-des;” “Elˈa-tus;” “Cte-sipˈpus;” “Eu-rydˈa-mas.”

P. 242.—“Lei-ocˈri-tus;” “Lei-oˈdes;” “Pheˈmi-us.”

P. 243.—“Laˌer-tiˈa-des.” The son of Laertes. “Meˈdon;” “Phil-œˈti-us.”

P. 245.—“Eu-rynˈo-me;” “Euˈry-cleiˌa.”

P. 247.—“Acˈto-ris;” “Lamˈpus and Phaˈe-thon.” The goddess of the morning dawn (Eˈos in Greek, in Latin Au-roˈra). “At the close of every night rose from the couch of her spouse Tithonus and on a chariot, drawn by the swift horses, Lampus and Phaethon, she ascended up to heaven from the river Oceanus, to announce the coming of the light of day to the gods, as well as to mortals. In the Homeric poems Eos not only announces the coming sun, but accompanies him throughout the day, and her career is not complete until the evening; hence she came to be regarded as the goddess of the daylight.”

P. 249.—“Ciˈcons.” After the capture of Troy Ulysses set out for home, but was driven by a storm on to the coast of Ismarus, a town of the Cicones in Thrace, north of the island of Lemnos. He took much booty from the town, though in the fray several of his men were killed. The adventures of the company with the Lotus-eaters are told on page 228, and with the Cyclops on page 200. After leaving these giants he came to the island of the god of the winds, Æolus. This island has been said to be Lipara, or Strongyle, in the group of Lipara islands, northeast of Sicily. Ulysses was well treated by Æolus, who gave him a bag of winds on his departure, which was to carry him home. The companions of Ulysses, however, opened the bag, and the winds escaped. The ships were driven back to the island, but Æolus would give no further help. Six days afterward the fleet arrived at “the wide-gated Les-try-goˈni-an town,” supposed to be Tel-epˈy-los, in the north of Sicily, where dwelt the Les-trygˈo-nes, a race of cannibals. Ulysses fared hard among them, escaping with but one ship. Circe and her wiles are told on page 230. In Hades Ulysses learned mainly that he was at last to get safely to Ithaca, providing that he let the herds of Heˈli-os, “the sun’s kine,” in Thrinacia go unharmed. The “Sirens” lived on an island somewhere near the western coast of Italy, and sang so sweetly that all who came that way were forced to stop, when they were destroyed. Ulysses filled the ears of his companions and fastened himself to the mast of the ship. Next he came to the rocks called Scylˈla and Cha-rybˈdis. The former received its name from a fearful monster with twelve feet, six heads, and a bark like a dog, which dwelt thereon, and the latter from a being who thrice every day swallowed the waters of the sea and thrice threw them up. They passed uninjured and came to Helios’ (the sun’s) land. Ulysses was compelled by his companions to land, and while he was one day asleep they killed some of the sacred oxen. When again under way the storms arose which drowned all the company save Ulysses.

P. 252.—“Ar-keiˈsi-as.”

P. 253.—“Alˈy-bas;” “A-pheiˈdas;” “Pol-y-peˈmon;” “E-perˈi-tus.”

P. 254.—“Par-nasˈsus.” See map, History of Greece. It was on Mount Parnassus that Au-tolˈy-cus lived. He was a son of Mercury, and renowned for his robberies.

NOTES ON CYRUS AND ALEXANDER.

P. 14.—“As-tyˈa-gēs.”

P. 25.—Names of the nine muses. See “Brief History of Greece,” page 73, and note in Cyrus and Alexander.

P. 29.—The mother of Cyrus was named Pa-rysˈa-tis. There is a brief reference to her in “Preparatory Greek Course,” page 65. The attempt on the part of Cyrus to assassinate his brother is denied by some writers. From the “Introduction” to “Kendrick’s Anabasis” the following quotation is taken: “During the last illness of his father, Cyrus was summoned to his bedside, and with Tissaphernes as an ostensible friend, and with three hundred Greeks he went up to the capital, with strong hopes, doubtless, that the question of the succession to the throne might be decided in his favor; the queen-mother espousing his cause, and he being, though not the oldest son, yet the oldest son born after Cyrus was king. He was disappointed in his hopes; and, not only so, but, through the accusations of Tissaphernes, was even seized on charge of a conspiracy, and escaped death only through the powerful intercession of his mother, Parysatis. Being dismissed from the court, he returned to his satrapy, burning with resentment, and determined, if possible, to shake off all dependence on his brother by succeeding to the throne. He immediately commenced a secret mustering of the troops needed for so great an enterprise.”

P. 30.—“The Auxiliary army,” from Greece. “The Peloponnesian War had just come to a close, and had released from service large numbers of trained soldiers, fond of war, and ready to enlist, as soldiers of fortune, in any enterprise that promised success and good pay.” Also see “Brief History of Greece,” page 33, note.

P. 35.—“Cyropedia.” For pronunciation and definition see “Preparatory Greek Course,” page 62.

P. 37.—“Cam-byˈses;” “Man-daˈne.”

P. 40.—“Harˈpa-gus.”

P. 42.—“Mitˈri-daˈtes.”

P. 51.—“Ar-temˈba-ris.”

P. 75.—“Sacian.” The Sacians, or Saciæ, were one of the numerous and most powerful of the Scythian nomad tribes, and had their abodes northeast of the Massagetæ, in the steppes of Central Asia. They were made tributary to the Persian empire, and were among the best troops that the kings of Persia had. They were very warlike, and excelled especially as cavalry. The name of the Sacians is often used loosely for other Scythian tribes, and sometimes for Scythians in general.

P. 97.—“A-rasˈpes.”

P. 101.—“Mermˈna-dæ;” “Gyges,” jiˈjes.

P. 102.—“Can-dauˈles.”

P. 106.—“A-ly-atˈtes.”

P. 107.—“Thrasˈy-buˈlus.”

P. 108.—“A-riˈon.”

P. 113.—“Pac-toˈlus.”

P. 117.—“Aˈtis.”

P. 148.—“Promˌe-neˈa;” “Te-marˈe-te;” “Ni-canˈder;” “As-tragˈa-lus.”

P. 167.—“Thaˈles.”

P. 168.—“The celebrated fifth proposition of the first book.” If two sides of a triangle are equal, then the angles opposite these sides are equal.

P. 170.—“Pteria,” teˈri-a.

P. 178.—“Tmolus,” moˈlus; “Hyrædes,” hy-rēˈdes.

P. 193.—“Belus.” Son of Neptune. He was believed to be the ancestral hero and national divinity of several eastern nations. He was the same as the god Baal, of whom we read in the Scriptures, and, perhaps, the one known to the Phœnicians as Moloch. His temples were built on the tops of high hills, or still more frequently in solemn groves, and sometimes altars were erected to him on the roofs of houses. Incense was the most frequent offering presented to him, but we also read of sacrifices of bullocks, and even of children. Priests danced about the altar during the sacrifices, and barbarously cut and mangled themselves if their gods did not speedily answer their prayers.

P. 200.—“Pacˈty-as;” “Ta-baˈlus.”

P. 202.—“A-ris-to-diˈcus.”

P. 228.—“A-bra-daˈtes.”

P. 256.—“Phe-rauˈlas.”

P. 267.—“A-glaiˈta-das.”

P. 272.—“Massagetæ,” mas-sajˈe-te; “Tomˈy-ris.”

P. 273.—“Spar-ga-peˈzes.”